Nationals @ Dodgers April 20, 2018: Kershaw vs. Scherzer

The Dodgers (8-9) return home after a three-game sweep of the Padres. They ride a four-game winning streak into the homestand opener against the Nationals (9-10) Friday night. This is the first time the Dodgers will play a team outside the NL West this season, not including the brief interleague series with the A’s last week. With Rich Hill hitting the 10-day disabled list — once again with a finger issue — Clayton Kershaw (1-2, 1.73 ERA, 3.10 FIP) gets the ball for the series opener. I guess it worked out, because the Dodgers were scheduled to face the one and only Max Scherzer (3-1, 1.33 ERA, 1.73). Might as well have the two aces square off for a must-see 4/20 battle.

The Dodgers go for their fifth straight win to bring them to .500 on the season. They’ve been playing better of late with Yasmani Grandal and Matt Kemp taking charge of the offensive duties while Justin Turner rehabs his wrist and Logan Forsythe his shoulder. The offense and pitching could still find more consistency, but there’s a glimmer of optimism to be found after their offensive breakout. The Boys In Blue scored 37 runs during their four-game win streak. That’ll play.

	Nationals			Dodgers
	7:10 PM			Los Angeles
SS	Turner		CF	Taylor
2B	Kendrick		SS	Seager
RF	Harper		C	Grandal
1B	Zimmerman		1B	Bellinger
LF	Sierra		LF	Pederson
C	Wieters		2B	Utley
CF	Taylor		RF	Puig
3B	Difo		3B	Muncy
P	Scherzer (R)		P	Kershaw (L)

It’s a historic match-up between the two 3-time Cy Young Award winners. The Dodgers sent out a special PR note on this clash of pitching titans:

Looking ahead to tomorrow’s starting pitching matchup between Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer, according to Stats LLC, it will be only the 13^th all-time meeting (10^th in the regular season) between 3-time Cy Young Award winners.

And here are those 13 matchups:

GAME DATE	ROAD STARTER	HOME STARTER	WINNER	PLAYOFF GAME
04/08/1981	Steve Carlton, Phi	Tom Seaver, Cin	Cin, 3-2
08/18/1981	Steve Carlton, Phi	Tom Seaver, Cin	Cin, 3-1
05/24/1982	Steve Carlton, Phi	Tom Seaver, Cin	Phi, 9-1
04/05/1983	Steve Carlton, Phi	Tom Seaver, NYM	NYM, 2-0
04/23/1984	Jim Palmer, Bal	Tom Seaver, CWS	CWS, 7-6 (10)
06/03/2000	Roger Clemens, NYY	Greg Maddux, Atl	Atl, 11-7
04/14/2001	Roger Clemens, NYY	Pedro Martinez, Bos	NYY, 3-2
10/16/2001	Greg Maddux, Atl	Randy Johnson, Ari	Ari, 2-0	NLCS Gm1
10/11/2003	Roger Clemens, NYY	Pedro Martinez, Bos	NYY, 4-3	ALCS Gm3
10/16/2003	Pedro Martinez, Bos	Roger Clemens, NYY	NYY, 6-5 (11)	ALCS Gm7
04/29/2005	Greg Maddux, ChC	Roger Clemens, Hou	ChC, 3-2
07/19/2006	Roger Clemens, Hou	Greg Maddux, ChC	Hou, 4-2

The two are pretty darn close when you compare their career stats.

Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer both debuted 4 weeks apart in 2008. Some of their bulk numbers are super close:

Starts: 300-294 Scherzer
IP: 1,961-1,924 Kershaw
K: 2,187-2,151 Scherzer
BB: 538-510 Scherzer has more
Wins: 145-144 Kershaw

— Eric Stephen (@truebluela) April 20, 2018

How can you not be optimistic when you have Kershaw on the mound? Inevitably the Dodgers’ success relies a lot on their long-time ace’s success. He’s been good so far this year even with only nine runs of support behind him (3.12 RS/9 — 35th in the NL) through 26 innings of work. The Nationals haven’t given Scherzer much support either (10 runs and 3.33 RS/9).

On the flip side, Kersh has already given up four home runs and walked three. The three walks are honestly more surprising than the homers. Last time out Kershaw was stellar, as he allowed one run on two hits while striking out a dozen and walking none in a dominant seven-inning 100-pitch gem against the D-backs.

Clayton Kershaw’s world famous curveball pic.twitter.com/kLA5MLPLd4

— Pitcher List (@PitcherList) April 15, 2018

Vintage Kershaw.

The 30-year-old southpaw will face a team other than the Giants or D-backs for the first time this season, and he’s historically pitched extremely well against D.C.

Bryce Harper is 2-for-23 with 14 strikeouts against Clayton Kershaw. Since Harper’s debut, Kershaw has faced the Nats 9 times, and gone 9-0 with a 0.92 ERA.

— Joe Davis (@Joe_Davis) April 20, 2018

Scherzer has started the season off well, and he remains one of the most dominating pitchers in baseball. The two-tone-eyed right-hander leads the league in striking out 38.4% of batters and has a 1.70 FIP. Opposing batters have only hit .147 against him, and he’s only given up two home runs in 27 innings pitched. Overall in his career, he’s 3-4 with a 2.92 ERA and 63 strikeouts in 61 2/3 innings against the Dodgers. He’s 2-2 with a 3.26 ERA at Dodger Stadium in six starts.

Kemp is hitting .130 against him with a home run and 14 strikeouts in 46 at-bats, so he sits. Grandal bats third, and Max Muncy gets another start at third base. Joc Pederson starts in left field, batting fifth. Joc has two hits, including a home run, in eight at-bats against Scherzer.

Joc’s seventh-inning postseason dong against Scherzer in Game 5 of the 2016 NLDS won’t soon be forgotten.

The Nationals have actually fared better on the road (6-3) than at home (3-7). Some of their key players like infielder Daniel Murphy and outfielder Adam Eaton, and right-hander Joaquin Benoit are on the DL. Third baseman Anthony Rendon is day-to-day with a toe injury. They’re currently 4 1/2 games behind the surprisingly red hot Mets (13-5) in the NL East.

Speaking of injuries, Turner isn’t close to returning yet.

Justin Turner hit off a tee today, Dave Roberts said. Making progress. Still no timetable for return from broken wrist

— Eric Stephen (@truebluela) April 20, 2018

Justin Turner (left wrist fracture) still has a teammate catch for him when he throws to keep his arm in shape. Currently, the teammate is Logan Forsythe, who can’t throw yet. A perfect rehab pair.

— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) April 20, 2018

Things are starting to get somewhat fun now. Don’t ruin the fun, guys.