ScotSports.com Blog

HP grad Clayton Kershaw remains one of the National League's hottest pitchers heading toward the All-Star break. Kershaw will be on the mound Sunday as the Los Angeles Dodgers finish the first half of the season in Milwaukee. The Dodgers currently have the best record in the majors at 54-31 and lead San Francisco by seven games in the NL West Division. Game time is 1:05 p.m. Sunday.

Kershaw, who pitched six scoreless innings in New York against the Mets earlier this week, has allowed only two earned runs in his last 29 2/3 innings spanning five starts. LA is undefeated in those starts, and Kershaw's earned the decision in three of them. The former Scot started out horribly in road games in 2009, with a 9.47 ERA in his first four road starts. Since then, his breaking ball and mid-90's fastball have helped him recover. He's 4-0 with a 1.38 ERA in his last four road starts, a pace he can continue on Sunday.

 

Earlier today, ESPN reported that Toronto was interested in talking to the Dodgers regarding a possible trade for their top starter, Roy Halladay. But the story says the Dodgers weren't likely to be interested because the Blue Jays would want either Kershaw or Chad Billingsley, LA's top young pitchers, in return.

Welcome to the big leagues, Clayton, where trade rumors surface about everyone this time of year. Let's hope he doesn't go to Toronto and disappear from the national sports view. Granted, Toronto comes to play Texas once or twice every season, and it would be nice to see Kershaw play in person. But it's also easy to pick up every LA game on TV somewhere on the national networks. Not so with Toronto.

If you stayed up late tonight to watch SportsCenter, you probably watched some highlights of Clayton Kershaw pitching against the Mets. The HP grad is simply on fire, throwing six scoreless innings tonight as LA beat NY, 8-0.

Kershaw got the win to go to 6-5 on the season and lowered his ERA to 3.27. As mentioned on this video of his performance, he had five strikeouts during the Mets' first trip through the rotation, and finished with seven. He walked two and gave up three hits, but still came through with zeros in the runs column.

What a meteoric rise into the majors it's been for the former fireballer from HP. We've seen those curveballs mentioned in the video before at Scotland Yard. With LA maintaining the best record in the National League, we may well see Kershaw pitching in the World Series in November.

 

Meanwhile, in San Diego, Chris Young is on his second stint on the 15-day disabled list. Young was first placed on the DL on June 18 after suffering inflammation in his right (pitching) shoulder. An MRI revealed no structual damage, but his return isn't expected until late July.

Back to baseball, where one of the hottest pitchers in the National League is back on the mound. HP's own Clayton Kershaw is finally back to .500 on the season, and takes his 5-5 record and 3.49 earned-run average into Citi Field to take on the New York Mets.

Here's tonight's pitching matchup, courtesy of mlb.com:

Dodgers (Clayton Kershaw): On July 1 against the Colorado Rockies both sides to Kershaw's game were evident. One on hand, he kept Rockies hitters off balance and prevented them from making solid contact. On the other hand, he was wild and erratic, walking five batters and exiting after throwing 97 pitches in five innings. For the day, Kershaw allowed one hit and struck out five. He has one career start against the Mets, giving up four runs in 3 2/3 innings.

Mets (Mike Pelfrey): Pelfrey bounced back from two sub-par outings to deliver a gem in his last start, holding Milwaukee to six hits in 7 2/3 scoreless innings. He went into the eighth inning, throwing 107 pitches while walking two. Pelfrey has faced the Dodgers just once in his career, a 3-2 Mets win last May in which he took the no-decision. He threw seven innings, giving up two runs on seven hits, striking out six.

We told you this a week ago on this blog (check the archive), but now it's official from the UIL. HP placed third in the Lone Star Cup standings for the 2008-09 school year. Friendswood won its first LSC title with 92 points, followed by Waco Midway with 90. HP had 84 points.

We even got a point totals right doing our own math -- a week ago. Guess the UIL had to double-check their addition. The final results:
1. Friendswood - 92
2. Waco Midway - 90
3. HP - 84
4. Boerne Champion - 80
5t. Austin Lake Travis - 78
5t. Canyon Randall - 78
7. Brenham - 68
8. Mesquite Poteet - 62
9. Magnolia - 60
10t. Dripping Springs - 58
10t. Richardson Pearce - 58

 

Clayton Kershaw continued his torrid pitching streak today, throwing a one-hitter against Colorado before being pulled after five innings. LA won, 1-0.

In my story on Kershaw (see the home page) last week, Dodgers manager Joe Torre said that he's keeping a pretty tight leash on Kershaw, and won't push him too much and risk wearing out an arm that isn't accustomed to throwing 100+ pitches every five days.

That appears to be what happened today. Kershaw was perhaps inefficient in throwing 97 pitches in only five innings, striking out 5 and walking 5. He didn't give up a run, though, so now he's now given up only two earned runs in his last 23 2/3 innings now, a streak that began in a June 16 start against Oakland.

That's pretty good stuff all-in-all.

The Dallas Morning News published its annual High School All-Sports Awards today, and once again HP is at the top of the Class 4A standings. The Scots ran away with the title, their seventh in a row and 21st overall going back to their Class 5A days.

State championships in team tennis and girls swimming, state runner-up finishes in boys golf and volleyball, and top-six state finishes in girls cross country and girls golf helped secure HP's 20-point separation over Waco Midway.

We mentioned Clayton Kershaw was starting tonight at home against Seattle. He turned in one of his best outings of the season, striking out eight batters in six innings of work. He gave up only two earned runs and five hits and earned his fifth win of the year to even his record at 5-5.

Some things don't change - of Kershaw's 96 pitches, 64 went for strikes. That's two-out-of-three if  you're scoring at home. His new earned-run average is 3.70, not bad for a 21-year-old who's only been in the bigs for a little more than a year.

Kershaw was also 1-for-2 at the plate and got an RBI, the first of the season for the .182 hitter.

I saw a note on ESPN tonight while channel-surfing past a few baseball games. Going into tonight's start against Seattle, HP's own Clayton Kershaw is one of the hottest pitchers in the majors. He's gone 12 consecutive innings without giving up an earned run, according to the broadcast.

And don't think the young phenom's going unnoticed. My contacts on the left coast tell me he's receiving a few hundred write-in votes on the All-Star ballots. And they're not all coming from California.