In todays game against the Chicago White Sox, Dodgers rookie pitcher Clayton Kershaw was pulled after four innings after only giving up two runs.Kershaw only threw 69 pitches, hardly a yeoman-like effort. So what's the deal? Is Kershaw hurt? Well, not as far as I can see - no reports suggests Kershaw was pulled for anything besides his ineffectiveness. 29 of those 69 pitches were balls, which isn't terrible but doesn't suggest he was locked into the zone.
Kershaw has yet to notch his first major league victory, and if you are a Dodger fan or in a fantasy league, that comes as a bit of a letdown considering the huge amount of hype surrounding the youngster. Sports talk radio, internet chats and office watercooler talk ask one question - is Kershaw a bust?
Hardly.
Sure, he's a Dodger which means he's partially evil and eats small babies for breakfast. (What? I'm a Giants fan.) But he's also just a kid, and it's expected that things should be a bit rough for him out of the gates. He's barely 20 years old, people.
From a fantasy perspective, he's clearly great if you are in a keeper league. But in standard, single-season leagues the problem is that he's not even doing a good Johnny Cueto impression - that is, inconsistent starts but with a lot of strikeouts. He's doing okay in that category, but until he starts showing a bit more dominance, he's really not worth starting in most of your leagues. I'm holding onto him to see if he gets his act together, but in shallow leagues he's waiver fodder.
Oh look ... I made Tommy Lasorda cry.
