Young Left-Hander Kershaw Is the Dodgers' Show-Stopper

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 7 -- It must be fantastic to be young and talented and a star in a place as big and star-filled as this city of celebrity. Maybe the Los Angeles Dodgers wonder if it all will get to their gifted young starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw. He is, after all, 21 years old with a blistering fastball and a curveball that the team's legendary broadcaster Vin Scully refers to as "Public Enemy Number One."

Certainly Joe Torre wondered. Over the years as Yankees manager he dealt with the fragile egos of extravagant superstars, handled delicate rehabilitation cases and deftly maneuvered future Hall of Famers in and out of lineups when their skills declined. But in all his years working with George Steinbrenner, he never really managed someone quite like Kershaw -- a dominant pitcher, a certain future star barely old enough to vote.

If expecting Kershaw to help carry the Dodgers to the postseason was a risk, so too was asking Torre to have the patience to see him through his first full season in Major League Baseball.

"He's had some ugly [starts] this year," Torre said Wednesday of his second game starter in this National League Division Series with St. Louis, before marveling at the way Kershaw responded in his next games.

"He didn't really falter," Torre added.

If the Dodgers are really to have a chance against a Cardinals team that has dominated them this year -- a team that many expect to sweep Los Angeles -- the Dodgers' best hope may be Kershaw. When he is on, he is that good.

Better than his 8-8 record and 2.79 ERA show.

In his first full big league season, opponents hit a major league-low .200 against him while compiling just a .282 slugging percentage. Kershaw's 9.74 strikeouts per nine innings were also good for fifth best in the National League.

Despite the fact the Dodgers won 95 games this year and are the top seed in the National League playoffs, their weakness is a starting rotation that lacks anyone like the Cardinals' Chris Carpenter or Adam Wainwright, a pitcher who can go eight innings and shut down another team's offense. Chad Billingsley was supposed to be that pitcher for Los Angeles until he inexplicably fell apart in the second half. And the team's other starters are all solid but hardly spectacular. The only difference-maker, the one who can intimidate Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday, is Kershaw and his curveball.

Which is why he might be the most important Dodger this series -- Manny Ramírez included.

And he seems to understand that. On Tuesday, while speaking to a group of reporters at a Dodgers workout, he bristled when someone suggested that perhaps he didn't match up to the Cardinals' starting pitchers.

"That's your opinion," he snapped.

A startling reaction from an otherwise mild-mannered pitcher whose greatest claim to national fame before this was as the high school teammate of Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford.

"I think any time you are given the responsibility to start in the postseason there's obviously some added expectations there," Kershaw said before Game 1. "I don't think that has anything to do with age. I think if you're given the responsibility of starting Game 2 of a postseason series there's going to be some expectations for you to pitch well. So I don't think age has a whole lot to do with it."

Words that had to encourage Torre, who has already had to deal with Billingsley's collapse and repeated injuries to pitcher Hiroki Kuroda -- including a line drive off the pitcher's head. If Kershaw can be the salvation for Los Angeles then maybe, just maybe, the Dodgers have a chance in this series no one thinks they will win.

"I think Thursday you're still going to see some overdo because he's got extraordinary stuff," Torre said. "So he may go out there and overthrow it and whatever. But I don't think that's because he's 21; I think that's because he's competitive. But during the course of the year, just watching him deal with new things all the time and how he responded, he had a pretty good look in his eye."