"I ain't as good as I once was, but I'm as good once, as I ever was." - Toby Keith
That's the tune Los Angeles Dodgers legendary lefty Clayton Kershaw is playing this season in Hollywood.
He's 37 years old. Yeah, he's got a few years on him now.
But lately, he's been as good as he ever was, for sure.
Out of his last five starts, Kershaw has allowed one or fewer runs in four of them.
Three of those have seen one run allowed, including Friday night in a 3-2 win over the Padres in which Kershaw went six innings and allowed just a solo homer. He also had six shutout innings on August 1.
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The only real blemish came July 26 in Fenway Park, when Kershaw gave up four runs in 4.2 innings to the Red Sox.
On the season, Kershaw has now made 15 starts. He has a 3.01 ERA.
His strikeout rate is by far the lowest of his career at juts 5.7 strikeouts per nine innings, but Kershaw has made that mostly irrelevant.
He's throwing his slider more than he ever has, turning into as much of a finesse pitcher as he ever has been.
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The Dodgers will take it as long as Kershaw can provide it.
And frankly, it's just special for baseball fans. There aren't too many starting pitchers like Kershaw anymore. He recently started against Max Scherzer, a reminder of the changing role that starters play in the modern game.
But Kershaw is still Kershaw, and he can still be as good as he ever was.
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