The Trolley Dodger

In response to a question over on Reddit, “Where would you rank Clayton Kershaw among today’s elite starting pitchers and who’s ahead of him, if anyone?”

Bringing some stats in,

WHIP (NL)

Hamels, C (PHI) 0.99
Kershaw, C (LAD) 1.02
Harstens, J (PIT) 1.04
Halladay, R (PHI) 1.05
Hanson, T (ATL) 1.06
Lee, C (PHI) 1.07

Freakin’ Phillies. ;)

Other Kershaw NL stats:

OBA .209 (4th)
SO 167 (1st)
ERA 2.72 (5th)
Wins 11 (tied for 2nd with four other guys)

By the way, those five guys in the top 6 in WHIP? Here’s another stat for you:

Hamels 28
Kershaw 23
Harstens 28
Halladay 34
Hanson 24
Lee 32

That’s how old they are. And Hanson will be 25 in a month.

In an Al Jazeera opinion piece, Dave Zirin weighs in on the current situation: “Dodger’s bankruptcy reveals much about the US”

Much has been said about the business practices of Dodgers owner Frank McCourt and his battle against the efforts of Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig to forcibly seize the team. But what does an insolvent Dodgers franchise say about the state of America in the 21st century?

Maybe it says nothing at all. Maybe it’s as simple as saying that Frank McCourt mismanaged the team. Yes it’s true that McCourt looks terribly incompetent and used the team as a personal ATM to live a lifestyle that would shame Caligula.

But that doesn’t explain the broader economic crisis in the sport. It doesn’t explain why the Texas Rangers in 2010, on the road to the World Series, had to be auctioned off at a bankruptcy sale. It doesn’t explain why the New York Mets, playing in the game’s biggest market, are flat broke after team owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz thought Bernie Madoff would make a fine personal investment banker. It doesn’t explain why Selig, when he crows about baseball’s rosy financial picture, sounds like he’s living in the last days of disco.

But more than anything else, it doesn’t explain how – of all teams – the Los Angeles Dodgers find themselves in this crucible of humiliation. The Dodgers are arguably the most culturally significant franchise in the history of American sports. It’s the team of Jackie Robinson, Sandy Koufax, Fernando Valenzuela, and Hideo Nomo.

That’s more than just a tradition. That’s a Ken Burns epic.