The Los Angeles Dodgers have baseball's best pitcher on the mound as Clayton Kershaw gets ready to face the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night. Will the Cubs feast on Kershaw and reverse a trend of will the suffer the same fate as the rest of baseball?
Kershaw has been utterly ridiculous in his six-year career. So far, the only year he's finished with an ERA over 3.00 was in 2008, when he made his MLB debut. So far, in 27 starts this year, he's 13-7 with a miniscule 1.72 ERA and 0.86 WHIP. In four starts in the month of August, he's allowed three earned runs in 30 innings pitched. That is ridiculous. It's almost hard to understand how he's lost seven games this year. Kershaw is not only an ace, he's a workhorse having pitched 198.1 innings so far in 2013. After today, he will have pitched 200-plus innings for the fourth straight year.
It's all good in L.A. as the Dodgers are cruising in first place, 9.5 games over the Arizona Diamondbacks. They have slipped in recent days, but they are sitting comfortably in the N.L. West and their pitching has been great as Kershaw is backed up by a red hot Zack Greinke, Ricky Nolasco and Hyun-Jin Ryu.
Wood has been a pretty good pick up for the Cubs. He has a losing record, but he does pitch for the Chicago Cubs. He's 7-10 with a decent 3.22 ERA. He has struggled in his last two starts, surrendering eight earned runs in 12 innings pitched against the St. Louis Cardinals and Washington Nationals.
For the Cubs, it's all about respect and playing spoiler. If they can beat Kershaw and the Dodgers, it would be a great win for the Cubs. They are still in rebuilding mode, though that's taken a hit with the horrible season young shortstop, Starlin Castro has put together in 2013.
The Dodgers are surely glad to see Wood on the mound. In his last start against them, Wood gave up five earned runs without making it out of the fourth inning. Wood can use this start to either get payback or once again suffer another loss at the hands of the Dodgers.
First pitch is a little after 10:10 p.m. from Dodger Stadium. Go to MLB.TV for the live stream. It is not free but it's not much.
