Clayton Kershaw throws no-hitter vs. Rockies

We’ve seen the last out 100 times, and we’ve seen the 15 strikeouts in various supercut videos. But we haven’t talked about the mistake Kershaw made in the ninth inning.

KEEP YOUR HEAD UP, ROOK.

Vin Scully doesn’t care about your jinxes. Really, no one does. If you believe in broadcasters jinxing ballplayers, you probably send out a lot of emails with “FW: FW: RE: FW: RE: FW:” in the subject header.

Indeed. Though people didn’t even seem to mind back then, either.

And hey, if you don’t have seven minutes and 25 seconds to spare for the video, there’s always a shortcut.

You really should find the time, though. It’s Clayton Kershaw at his very best. Dude struck out 15 batters and only allowed a baserunner on an error. It’s perfection in all but name.

“That was a really though play. Under normal circumstances, that was pretty close to a hit,” Kershaw said after the game. Hanley did all he can. There is nothing you can really do about that.”

After the error, Kershaw retired the final nine batters of the game, including five by strikeout.

It’s a tricky business, writing up a no-hitter. You want to make it mean something, you want to assign importance to it. Except baseball doesn’t work like that. The difference between a hit and an out is a millimeter here, a millimeter there. A fraction of a fraction of a second too soon is an out; a fraction-of-a-fraction-of-a-second hesitation is a single through the right side. No-hitters all have a component of luck, every single one, and the achievement doesn’t have to mean anything.

This one does: It simply reminds you that Clayton Kershaw is the best pitcher in baseball.

(via @ChadMoriyama)

Clayton Kershaw, you’re the one

you make baseball lots of fun

Clayton Kershaw, we’re awfully fond of you

Clayton Kershaw was unhittable on Wednesday night, but he wasn’t unhittable.

The final strike from field level.

In the ninth inning, Kershaw is due to face DJ LeMahieu, the pitcher’s spot in the batting order and Dickerson.