TORRANCE TRIBUNE March 31, 2016 Page 5 Kershaw May Be Up and Adam Wasting His Prime? By Adam Serrao The best thing that the Dodgers have had going for them over the past eight years is Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw, currently the best pitcher on the Dodgers staff and in the league, is also the best pitcher that Los Angeles has seen since Sandy Koufax. The current Dodgers ace figures to surpass even him in Dodgers lore one day. While Kershaw continues to pitch lights-out, the team around him continues to dwindle. Ever since Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi have taken over, L.A. has gone into a “look into the future” sort of mode. That being said, the front office and the management of the Dodgers are taking their time with some of the best prospects in the entire league that could be helping the Dodgers win big and win big today. With such a patient attitude, the Dodgers could see their World Series hopes disappear until well after Kershaw is gone and out of his prime. Clayton Kershaw is widely considered to be the best pitcher that baseball has ever seen. As a left-handed starter, the eight-year veteran has the lowest career ERA among starters with a minimum of 1,000 innings pitched in the live-ball era. He’s a three-time Cy Young Award winner, a 2014 MVP, a five-time All- Star and a Triple Crown winner, amongst his many other accolades. Yet still, Kershaw has never been to the World Series. That’s a feat that looks as far away now than it ever has for Kershaw, who has been watching the team around him become less and less qualified to become a World Series favorite as each year of the calendar continues to flip on by. Most people will point to the fact that since the Guggenheim group of Stan Kasten, Magic Johnson and others have purchased the team, they have done nothing but spend money. Since the front office’s upheaval and the introduction of Friedman and Zaidi, however, the team has done exactly the opposite. Friedman and Zaidi have been given a team full of over-stuffed, explosive contracts, but what the two have done since demoting ex-GM Ned Colletti is let players with huge contract implications like Zack Greinke and even Matt Kemp walk away. With good cause. Kemp has sunk into an abyss and it remains to be seen what Greinke will do with his new seven year contract that should the Dodgers have signed him, would have cost an absurd amount in luxury tax. The fact remains, however, that the notion of the Dodgers being big spenders on the free-agency market is becoming a thing of the past. Friedman, one of the league’s leading endorsers of ‘moneyball’, has made sure of that. Now, Los Angeles’ focus has turned to grooming their young players to be stars in the league one day. Players like Julio Urias, Corey Seager, Jose De Leon, and Frankie Montas are all among the best pro-prospects in the entire league, yet they are all being handled with kid-gloves. Opportunities at the Major League level present themselves, yet are now consistently being filled by the likes of Chase Utley, Howie Kendrick, Alex Wood, or Brett Anderson. The Dodgers have the best arm in the entire game. The best arm that maybe the game has ever seen. The fact that they have been unable to get Kershaw to a World Series says less about Kershaw’s postseason mishaps and more about the talent that has been put around him. Players like Yasiel Puig, Carl Crawford and Andre Ethier unwaveringly hit a “deer in the headlights” stretch of play once the grand stage of the playoffs roll around. Kershaw is alone on an island, attempting to singlehandedly devise an escape plan to get back to civilization (which is the World Series) as his fellow castaways sit back and relax in the palm-tree-laden shade. The Dodgers have been consistently putting a winner on the field since Frank McCourt bankrupted his way out of town. While the team winning 90 games a season and making it into the playoffs certainly gives the Dodgers faithful something to cheer about, there remains an overwhelming feeling every year that when it comes down to the nitty-gritty and the Dodgers need something - someone - to get them over the hump and toward a victory in a championship game, they are clearly lacking. The Dodgers have very well been winning, but that winning has been masking the fact that they have been nothing close to a World Series type of team. This year is no different. As we enter into the 2016 season, there is no doubt that Clayton Kershaw will once again put up numbers that will progress his cause to be the best pitcher baseball has ever seen. Another Triple Crown, another league-leading ERA and WHIP, another CY Young Award. They’ll all have gone for naught once the Dodgers slip further down the standings this year than they have been in any of the four seasons since McCourt has left the team. Kershaw can opt out of his contract with the Dodgers in 2018. Let’s all just hope that he doesn’t get fed up by then and like Greinke, walk his way out of town. • Warriors Enjoying Fast Start to Baseball Season By Adam Serrao The West High Warriors baseball team has gotten their first taste of what Pioneer League play is like and has now put it behind them. A third place finish in the division last season wasn’t exactly where head coach Juan Cueva and his team would have preferred to finish, but now that the team has gotten their feet wet just a bit, they’re ready to make an impact in a brand new season. That new season is now underway, and Cueva and his crew are off to a terrific start. Despite a minor setback versus both Palos Verdes teams recently, the Warriors remain in first place in their division, most importantly, ahead of their other rivals from around the city of Torrance. West High was most recently involved in a close battle with the Peninsula Panthers last Saturday afternoon at Peninsula. Both teams jumped out to hot starts and each put up two runs in the first inning. It was Cody Wissler who got things started for the Warriors with an RBI double to put his team on the board. Steve Guillen promptly hit a single to knock Wissler in and just like that, West held their 2-0 lead in the top of the first. The Panthers were able to answer right back in the bottom of the inning, but West held a 3-2 lead in the top of the second when Michael Timmerman doubled and later came around to score to put the Warriors back on top. Unfortunately for West, three runs was all the offensive production that they would get on the day and three runs just wasn’t enough. Alex Bobb, who also held the Warriors scoreless over two innings of pitching to close out the game, had the score tying RBI single in the bottom of the fifth inning. Bryce Golida eventually gave the Panthers the lead. Those two runs in the fifth were all Peninsula needed to come from behind and take the eventual 4-3 victory on the day. The Warriors have had a rough go of things up on the hill lately. The team also took an 11-2 loss versus the Palos Verdes Sea Kings last Wednesday afternoon. “It was definitely tough,” West starting pitcher Taylor Proo described. “They hit the ball well off of us. They kept their heads back on my junk pitches and hit those very well. When I threw my fastball, they hit those even better.” Despite their back-to-back losses, however, the Warriors have put together a nice season. A five game winning streak that started with a 15-0 blowout of Cabrillo and ended with a 5-3 win at home against Camarillo has beefed up the team’s division best 7-4 record. The Warriors also opened up the season with a 5-2 victory over their old Bay League foes, the Mira Costa Mustangs. The season is still young and there is still a lot of baseball yet to be played. Centennial, South High, and Torrance High are all breathing right down the Warriors necks, looking to take their own stake of first place in the Pioneer League before the regular season comes to a close. League play begins in the middle of April where West will get things started with a two-game set against Leuzinger. South High The South High Spartans started their new baseball year off by taking part in the El Segundo tournament. Head coach Grady Sain had his team firing on all cylinders in their first game of the season as Trevor Talpas pitched six innings of shutout ball to beat Mayfair 4-0. Unfortunately for the Spartans, the rest of the tournament wasn’t as good to them. A loss against Mira Costa and a tie against Palos Verdes knocked last year’s Pioneer League champions out of the tournaments championship contention. The Spartans are attempting to mimic their play from last year where they went all the way to the CIF Southern Section Division 4 championship game and took a heartbreaking 2-1 loss versus Serrano. The team took the first step toward that goal last Tuesday afternoon with a 5-0 shutout of El Segundo. Talpas, once again, had a magnificent performance of seven inning, four hit, shutout ball. “When he gets into adverse situations, he seems to dig down and make quality pitches,” coach Sain said of his pitcher. “He threw some great pitches and it was a real fine pitching performance from him.” Matt Mavrosakis and Chris Gomez each hit tworun home runs in what was a five run bottom of the fifth that gave South their win. The Spartans (4-4-1) currently sit in third place in the Pioneer League standings, but with lots of baseball yet to be played, the team will look forward to the opening of league play to improve their division standing. South will start league play off with a two game set versus the Torrance Tartars. Torrance High The Torrance Tartars are becoming notorious for their slow start to the baseball season, only to march back, take the division by storm, and make a strong playoff push. This year has been no different. At 4-6 in their division, the Tartars currently sit in fourth place, but rest assured that head coach Ollie Turner and his team are not dissuaded. A current four game losing streak has Turner and his team feeling the effects of losing right now, but rest assured that once league play starts, the Tartars will be looking to give the Spartans, and the rest of the division, a run for their money. North High The North High Saxons (3-8) are ahead of only the Leuzinger Olympians in the early Pioneer League season standings and have not experienced victory since the beginning of March. The Saxons are currently engulfed by a six game losing streak and are attempting to find themselves a way out. The team’s last victory was an 8-7 win over Bishop Montgomery in their final game of the El Segundo Tournament on April 12. Most recently, the Saxons lost a tight one to El Segundo in which they were up 3-0 early. A giant five run fourth inning put El Segundo ahead 5-3. North was unable to score past the third inning and ultimately took a 6-3 loss. The Saxons will look to get things turned around once league play starts where North will open up against Centennial. • “While Kershaw continues to pitch lights-out, the team around him continues to dwindle.” Burkley & Brandlin LLP A T T O R N E Y S A T L AW Living Trusts/Wills, Probate, Employment Law, Personal Injury Trust and Estates Litigation, Business Litigation, Civil Litigation 310-540-6000 *AV Rated (Highest) Martindale - Hubbell / **Certified Specialist Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law, State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization
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