Page 6 October 16, 2014 TORRANCE TRIBUNE The Seventh Inning Stretch By Adam Serrao Normally, fans of the Los Angeles Dodgers don’t necessarily need a seventh inning stretch, because by the start of the 8th inning they have already bolted for their cars in the parking lot to attempt to beat the traffic. Whether their team is winning or losing, getting home in a timely manner is key. After last week’s 3-2 loss in Game 4 to the St. Louis Cardinals, “After coming off of one of the greatest regular seasons by any starting pitcher ever, Kershaw proceeded to follow up his greatness with one of the worst postseasons ever by a team’s starting ace.” the only thing that the Dodgers have left to beat is the traffic. In a season that was labeled World Series or bust, the Dodgers busted in a disgustingly horrific fashion. If Major League Baseball games were only six innings long, then the Dodgers would have had a clear road to the NLCS to take on their hated rivals, the San Francisco Giants. Instead, L.A. made it home in no time and will be watching the rest of the playoffs from their couches as their rivals go for yet another championship ring. Clayton Kershaw’s next start will come with plenty of rest. Perhaps he needs it. After these playoffs, the young left-hander is left seeing red. No, not because he’s angry. But the St. Louis Cardinals have now demolished the Cy Young pitcher in two consecutive postseasons and have even made his hometown fans question his reliability in the playoffs. After coming off of one of the greatest regular seasons by any starting pitcher ever, Kershaw proceeded to follow up his greatness with one of the worst postseasons ever by a team’s starting ace. In two starts, the MVP candidate allowed 11 earned runs and tallied two losses in four games. If you would have told anyone in the baseball world that things would have gone down that way, they would have laughed in your face. “The season ended and I’m a big part of the reason why,” Kershaw said. “It doesn’t matter how I pitched. It’s bad deja vu all over again. I felt we had a really good chance to win. I’m thankful we got here and hope to be back.” The first sentence of that quotation perhaps rings the truest. Kerhsaw, in this year’s postseason alone, was 0-2 with a 7.82 ERA. In Game 1 he allowed eight earned runs after leading 6-2 through six innings of work. Every one of those earned runs came in the seventh inning after four straight base hits and a total of eight hits and two home runs. The game ended at 10-9 in favor of the Cardinals and Kershaw’s ERA stood at 10.80. In Game 4, it happened all over again. After pitching a one hit shutout through six innings with nine strikeouts, Kershaw gave up two consecutive hits and then a home run in the seventh inning yet again to erase what was a Dodgers’ 2-0 lead. They wound up blowing the game once again, this time by a final score of 3-2. The home run that Kershaw gave up to eventually lose the game was to a left hander (Matt Adams) who was batting under .200 against left-handers like Kershaw. It was the first time in history that Kershaw had ever given up a home run to a left-hander on a breaking ball. No matter how hard he tried, Kershaw could just not get past the stretch of outs in the seventh inning in this year’s postseason. To put Kershaw’s playoff performance into perspective a bit, he allowed only nine earned runs in his last seven starts of the regular season. In Game 1 he allowed eight. Game 2; three more. He had three losses all season long and was 18-1 in his last 19 decisions of the regular season including wins in his final seven starts. In the playoffs, 0-2 with two straight losses in two straight decisions. Clearly, winning just wasn’t in the cards for the Dodgers or for Kershaw, to be frank. This isn’t the first time the team has struggled against St. Louis either. If you remember back to just last year, Kershaw had his same struggles against this team in the NLCS, giving up 10 hits in four innings of work as they eventually lost in six games and watched as the Cardinals flew on to the World Series. At a certain point, you just have to come to the realization that you are what your record says you are. For Kershaw, that’s 1-7 with a 5.69 ERA in his last eight playoff starts. Compare that to his 21-3 record with a 1.77 ERA from the regular season or his lifetime regular season ERA of 2.48 and it’s clear to see that he is just not a playoff pitcher. When the bright lights are on and everyone is watching, he simply can’t meet the moment. We’ve seen the script before with players like Alex Rodriguez or even Payton Manning in the NFL. Great regular seasons, horrible postseasons. The same goes for Yasiel Puig. He had eight strikeouts in nine at-bats down the stretch in the playoffs, leading Don Mattingly to bench perhaps his best offensive player in Game 4. When pressure is applied, Kershaw and Puig were simply not resourceful in the high-leverage situations that were presented to them. There are many reasons that the Dodgers lost the series to the Cardinals, whether it be Kerhsaw’s pitching, Puig’s non-hitting, some debatable decisions by Mattingly or a questionable Game 3 strike zone from home plate umpire Dale Scott. If you’re going to be a championship team, though, then excuses aren’t a factor. This year’s Dodgers simply wasn’t a championship team. That leaves all fans wondering what’s next. The Dodgers can be the best team in all of Major League Baseball and fans can reinvest themselves for 162 games of the season again next year, but once the postseason comes, won’t they just crumble once again? Well, obviously there is no clear and concise answer to that question, but that, in itself, is the beauty of sports and the beauty of baseball. This season, like many seasons before it has shown us to expect the unexpected. That’s why we watch. That’s why we love it. Sports is never predictable. It can turn heroes into antiheroes and some of the game’s greatest players into failures. • Remember the Name: Tyree Harris By Adam Serrao Photos by Peter Thornton Adrian Peterson who? Say hello to the next best running back that should be a household name after Torrance High School’s game last Friday night at Zamperini Field in Torrance: Tyree Harris. The running back basically created all of the offense that his team would need in last week’s matchup against their archrivals, the South High Spartans. It was a lot of offense. Harris rushed for 321 yards and scored seven touchdowns; yes, seven touchdowns, as the Tartars beat the Spartans by a final score of 62-47. Neither team would give up in a matchup that started off slowly in the first quarter and then just went haywire with scoring. After the first quarter, South and head coach Josh Waybright led by a score of 7-6 and everyone thought that this game would just be your typical 20-17 rivalry game finish. Well everyone was wrong, thanks in large part to Harris. “It all seemed like a dream. It seemed like I was playing Madden out there. All of my praise goes to the offensive line tonight.” Harris wasn’t playing a video game, but he might as well have been. With touchdown runs for as little as 1 yard to as much as 57 yards and everywhere in between, Harris was a scoring machine. After a relatively slow moving first quarter, it was Harris who got things going to start off the scoring in the second with his 57-yard touchdown. No matter how many times the Tartars scored, however, South and running back Vini Bjazevich attempted to stay right there with them. A second quarter touchdown by Bjazevich kept the Spartans on top 14-12, but by halftime the Tartars found a way to take a 26-20 lead. South once again came out strong to start the third as starting quarterback Gabe Zuniga hurled a 45-yard touchdown pass complete to Vini’s brother, Bailey Bjazevich to tie things up at 26 apiece. The third quarter remained relatively even, but then Harris found yet another way to help his team toward victory. With just about eight minutes remaining in the game and the Tartars clinging to a twotouchdown lead at 48-34, Zuniga and the Spartans had the ball ready to cut into the lead. Harris rose to the occasion on defense, literally, lifting into the air to intercept the ball and take possession away from South. The interception led to a touchdown for the Tartars as they went up 55-34. Harris would punch it in one more time to end the scoring for the Tartars as they ultimately held on to a 62-47 lead for the win. Harris’s magnificent play perhaps overshadowed a great game by Zuniga, who threw for 365 yards and three touchdowns on the night while also rushing for a total of 77 yards. “It was a defensive struggle,” Torrance head coach Rock Hollis said with a smile on his face. “Josh Waybright and those guys are always prepared. We knew it was going to be a high-scoring affair.” Hollis was right about Waybright. Before their matchup against one another, Waybright had the Spartans at 4-1 on the year and towards the top of the Pioneer League division standings. With the loss, they drop all the way down to a tie for last place at 0-1 in league play. With league play just starting, however, South has plenty of time to make up ground. They will try to do so this week as they take on the Centennial Apaches. The Tartars, who are now tied atop of the Pioneer League standings, will look to keep rolling behind Harris and company as they face off against Leuzinger. North High After a benches-clearing brawl close to three weeks ago against Inglewood, the North High Saxons entered last Friday night’s game at Centennial shorthanded. With nine players suspended (six starters), head coach Todd Croce knew he would have an uphill battle to climb in his team’s first league play game of the season. With clutch play on both sides of the ball down the stretch in the fourth quarter though, North was able to hold on for a slim 20-19 victory and short-handedly attained their first league victory of the year. Most of the key scoring in this one didn’t get started until the final quarter. Down by 12 points with just over eight minutes remaining in the game, North’s starting quarterback Chris Kuaea came to life. A 9-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Makelty Davis cut the Saxons deficit to just five at 19-14. Stout defense by North High kept the score where it was until Saxons senior running back Isaac Castillo was able to trot into the end zone with just under two minutes remaining in the game to give his team just a one point lead. Croce and the Saxons caught Centennial off guard when they game right back with an onside kick. Joseph Rodriguez recovered for North and Kuaea was able to run out the remainder of the clock to seal the victory for the Saxons. With the win, North is tied atop the Pioneer League standings in the young divisional play season. They will next take on a very tough opponent in the West High Warriors in a rivalry game that will be for first place in the division. West High If you’ve been following the West High Warriors at all this year then you know that most of their victories have come rather easily thus far. Last Friday night at Leuzinger was no different. The Warriors got the scoring going early on in this one as star running back Brett Ojiyi put two quick touchdowns up on the board and head coach Greg Holt was able to pull his starters early and give them some rest. The Warriors wound up winning by a final score of 44-7, but will be tested next week as they take on a tough North High team who will be at home in what will be a rivalry game with an ecstatic audience on hand. • 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 #8 Tyree Harris evades the Spartan defense for touchdown.
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