By David A. Avila

(Published April 18, 2021)

Watching a pair of aces Clayton Kershaw and Yu Darvish battle each other was reminiscent of confrontations often seen in the late 1960s. It harkened back to those amazing games between the Dodger’s Sandy Koufax and Giants’ Juan Marichal.

Fifty years ago, almost every team had at least one clear cut pitching ace like Warren Spahn for the Milwaukee Braves or Jim Bunning for the Philadelphia Phillies. And when the aces competed against each other you often saw 1-0 games like Saturday night between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres.

Real ace pitchers can actually hold a team scoreless without firing 100 mile an hour bullet fastballs.

Kershaw always was a thinking pitcher, but once he lost that 96-mile-an-hour heater the batters began catching up to him, regardless of his big bending curve ball. And Darvish lost steam on his fastball too recently, but discovered his off-speed stuff was pretty unhittable.

For the past two years Darvish and Kershaw have reconfigured their methodology of getting outs. Pinpoint control and off-speed pitches have enabled both to keep them at the top of all Major League Baseball charts for earned run average and overall effectiveness. They are true aces.

When Kershaw out-pitched Darvish to lead the Dodgers to a 2-0 victory, it showed their amazing abilities to befuddle some of the best gathering of hitters in the National League. From outstanding hitters like former AL MVP Mookie Betts to former NL Rookie of the Year Fernando Tatis, all were contained and bedazzled by an array of dipping change-ups and slicing sliders for six innings.

It was like watching Don Drysdale and Bob Gibson when they battled each other one summer evening in 1968 in Los Angeles. On that night, the Dodgers snapped Gibson’s attempt to break Drysdale’s consecutive scoreless innings of 56 innings without allowing a run. Gibson would win the Cy Young Award that year and lead his St. Louis Cardinals to the World Series. They would lose to the Detroit Tigers who were led by MLB’s last 30-game winner Denny McClain.

The 1960s were an age of aces and pitching dominated the MLB game to such a large extent that the Commissioner’s office decided to lower the mound. That led to more scoring and from that time onward hitting has become the priority, not pitching. That trend remained until this year when the baseball was deadened because of the soaring rate of homers hit last year.

Still, pitching aces are difficult to find.

Saturday’s game between the Dodgers and Padres showcased just how wonderful a clash between true ace pitchers can be.

No-Hitters

After nearly two weeks Major League Baseball enters 2021 with nary a glitch. Despite a deadened baseball, homeruns continue to fly and “barreling up” has become a common term measured by exit speed.

Pitching still rules the day and nothing beats a no-hitter when it comes to building drama.

New San Diego Padre pitcher Joe Musgrove, who was the third newly acquired starting pitcher along with Yu Darvish and Blake Snell, outshined them all by firing the very first no-hitter in San Diego Padre history.

Ironically, Musgrove is a homegrown player who grew up in nearby Alpine. He made his second start against the Texas Rangers on Friday April 9, and became the first Padre pitcher to fire a no-no. Despite the team being formed in 1969, no pitcher in a Padre uniform had ever accomplished the feat.

Musgrove was flabbergasted.

“I never threw one as a kid growing up. To be the first in San Diego history it doesn’t feel real,” said Musgrove to MLB Network on Monday. “Being from San Diego, I’ve been a fan since I was a kid.”

For his historic effort Musgrove was named NL Player of the Week.

And then, just this week, Chicago White Sox hurler Carlos Rodon fired another no-hitter. His came against the Cleveland Indians and was nearly a perfect game. Rodon’s no-hitter was the 20^th for the Chicago organization.

“Tonight was something special. A night I won’t forget,” said Rodon to MLB.

Dodgers Lead MLB in Wins

The Los Angeles Dodgers swept both the Colorado Rockies and the Washington Nationals in their first homestand of the season. Their 13-game win total leads all teams in both leagues. They also lead the NL Western Division by two games over the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres.

Boston Hot

After losing their first three games the Boston Red Sox followed with a nine-game winning streak. It was finally snapped by the Minnesota Twins 4-3 on Thursday in the bottom of the ninth.

Boston pitching seems to have returned after a disastrous 2020 which saw the Red Sox plummet to the bottom of the AL East.

With Alex Cora’s return to the dugout the team seems more like the dominant club that won the 2018 World Series. Cora had been suspended for his role in cheating with Houston in 2017 and supposedly Boston in 2018. The Boston organization ignored his past and rehired him.