Less than two years later, the 20-year-old made his major league debut, giving up two runs and striking out seven in six innings as he fired 97 mph fastballs and a big curveball, impressing then-Dodgers manager Joe Torre. "He's the real deal," the Hall of Fame skipper said. Kershaw was still a work in progress, working on his command and relying almost exclusively on only those two pitches until he started throwing his slider the following season.
But honestly, it hasn't been pretty. We kicked off the Wednesday edition of Leafs Morning Take by giving our initial thoughts on the game. Neither of us feel a certain way about the team. At this point, they just need to go out there and show us something. Fortunately, after a three-game absence, Matthew Knies is set to return, so that's good.
even as that career took him out of Detroit. He would leave in free agency for the Nationals. A 2014 playoff blowout at the hands of the Orioles and an ensuing three-game sweep would be the final playoff series for the Tigers for a decade. The last time I saw him, and the last time my hometown team was good, were tied together in my brain.
Scherzer was asked about his future and, while he avoided specifics, made clear that he's not yet ready to call it quits. "The only thing I can say is," Scherzer told reporters, as relayed Jesse Rogers of ESPN in the aftermath of last night's game, "it's going to take some time to give a full answer to that, but there is no way that was my last pitch."
The Mets had the right idea in making Max Scherzer the highest-salaried pitcher of his generation three years ago. It was easy to envision Scherzer as a co-ace to Jacob deGrom fronting a championship rotation. But the problem with that $130 million contract was the execution. Rather than being the final Cooperstown-worthy piece for a title run, Scherzer's Flushing legacy ultimately is one of failure.
The Dodgers had their backs against the wall last night, down 3-2 in the series in a must-win, force the next game situation. The Blue Jays had their drinks on ice in case it went their way. Therefore, the Dodgers played an all-hands-on-deck strategy to stay alive, using three pitchers after Yoshinobu Yamamoto, including starter Tyler Glasnow. The Blue Jays will also need to strategize their pitching layout for today's game seven, as it's the final game of the postseason, a do-or-die, winner-takes-all matchup.
While Scherzer may have put up some of the worst numbers of his Hall of Fame career during the regular season with the Blue Jays, he was an integral part of this teams success. A two-time World Series champion, Scherzer came into Spring Training with the Blue Jays and it felt like he set the tone right away.
