Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw shut out the Brewers for 8 innings yesterday, limiting the hot Brewers to just 5 hits, no walks and 6 strikeouts to win his 15th game of the season. He is 15-5 with a 2.60 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and a major league leading 199 strikeouts in 183.2 innings. He is going toe-to-toe with Phillies ace Roy Halladay for the NL Cy Young award. Here are Kershaw's stats vs Halladay's:
Kershaw-15-5, 2.60 ERA, 2.59 FIP, 2.79 xFIP, 1.01 WHIP, 199 Ks, 46 BBs, 4.33 K/BB, 183.2 IP
Halladay-15-5, 2.52 ERA, 2.13 FIP, 2.54 xFIP, 1.05 WHIP, 177 Ks, 23 BBs, 7.70 K/BB, 184.2 IP
It will be tough for Kershaw to overtake Halladay in the Cy Young race, but in a year where nothing has gone right for the Dodgers, this would be the shining light for Dodgers fans in 2011. A Cy Young award for their 23 year old ace, and the next in a long line of great Dodger pitchers.
Baseball Nation's Rob Neyer posted this article on the NL Cy Young race after Kershaw's gem, and, of course, I gave my two cents. Ok, it was more than two cents.
Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez won't be activated from the DL until Saturday as he isn't moving around very well laterally, so the Yankees are going to make sure he is completely healthy before activating him.
Braves starter Mike Minor had his best start of the season, shutting out the light-hitting Giants for 6 innings. He gave up just 4 hits, no walks and struck out 9. He is now 3-2 with a 4.26 ERA, which is decent for a young starter, but a 1.52 WHIP certainly stings. Minor, I think, is trade bait this offseason, as the Braves have Julio Teheran and Arodys Vizcaino ready and almost ready for the big leagues in 2012.
More Roundup after the jump:
The Red Sox placed third baseman Kevin Youkilis on the DL with a back injury. The Red Sox called up AAA catcher Ryan Lavarnway to DH, with Jed Lowrie and Mike Aviles sharing time at third base while Youk is out. Lavarnway batted 7th in the Red Sox lineup last night, and was 0-3 at the time of this writing. Even more interesting is Dustin Pedroia batting cleanup behind Adrian Gonzalez last night. Pedroia is signed through 2014 and will make just $8mm next season, and $10mm in 2013 and 2014. A steal.
I was arguing with a Red Sox fan the other day that Carl Crawford was not signed to bat 6th or 7th in the Red Sox lineup. He was signed to bat third. He disagreed, saying in that strong Sox lineup, he is fine batting lower in the lineup. My argument was you don't pay a guy $146 million to bat that low.
Twins catcher Joe Mauer started in right field for the first time in his career. He batted third and went 1-3 as of this writing.
The Twins placed outfielder Denard Span on the DL with migraine symptoms resulting from his concussion. Ben Revere benefits from this move in the Twins outfield. Revere is hitting .253-.301-.298 with 17 RBIs, 42 runs and 21 SBs in 292 at bats this season.
Nationals outfield prospect Bryce Harper injured his right leg running the bases last evening, and was removed from the game. Bill Ladson from MLB.com tweeted that Harper was diagnosed with a hamstring injury.