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Among the reasons to like baseball is the Awesome People Hanging Out Together aspect of it. I could watch Clayton Kershaw pitch all day, I could watch Anthony Rizzo hit forever, and guess what, folks: Watch just a little bit of baseball and eventually youll get to see them do those things just 60 feet away from each other.As the Cubs and Dodgers prepare for Game 6, the matchup between Rizzo and Kershaw looms large. For an example of how crucial ace pitcher/star slugger matchups can be, look back no further than Sunday. In three plate appearances, Rizzo and Kershaw demonstrated the tiny margins between being and beating the best. Those three seem worth reviewing in detail.Deep background: Clayton Kershaw and Anthony Rizzo are, to their respective franchises, more than just a couple of superstars. Each was acquired at a particularly pivotal moment for the club, each was a target of particular interest for the club and each seems like a peach.The Dodgers won only 71 games in 2005, producing the second-worst winning percentage since the club moved to Los Angeles. Manager Jim Tracy was fired, general manager Paul DePodesta was fired, and in June 2006 the new GM Ned Colletti was leading his first draft with the organization. As the story goes, the Dodgers liked Kershaw a lot -- he was one of the top two names on their draft board -- but they didnt think hed fall to them with the seventh overall pick. They got help when the Royals used the first overall pick on Luke Hochevar -- a pitcher who was only available because the Dodgers had drafted and failed to sign him after a contentious negotiation the year before. That bumped every other pitcher down a spot in the draft, and Kershaw -- who had pitched poorly in his final start with teams top scouts in attendance -- landed with the Dodgers. If not Kershaw, scouting director Logan White said later, the Dodgers likely would have taken Tyler Colvin instead.The Cubs won only 71 games in 2011, continuing a three-year tumble from a 97-win season in 2008. Manager Mike Quade was fired, GM Jim Hendry was fired, and in October, Jed Hoyer, the Padres GM, and Theo Epstein, the Red Sox GM, were recruited to fix the franchise. One of their first moves (besides trading Tyler Colvin to the Rockies) was acquiring Rizzo for top starting pitching prospect Andrew Cashner. It made sense: Hoyer and Epstein had drafted Rizzo when they were both with the Red Sox, and Hoyer traded for him (in the Adrian Gonzalez deal) less than two months after taking the San Diego job. Rizzos awful rookie season with the Padres -- he hit .141 with a single home run in 153 plate appearances -- had muted the hype around him, and given the extraordinary offensive demands on first basemen, the trade remained difficult to judge for years afterward.Only Travis Wood, acquired by Hoyer and Epstein a month earlier, has been on the Cubs major league roster longer than Rizzo. Only Andre Ethier has been on the Dodgers longer than Kershaw. Rizzo has been (by wOBA) the fifth-best hitter in baseball over the past three years, tied with David Ortiz and just ahead of Bryce Harper and Kris Bryant. He has crossed over into Hall-of-Fame-likely territory. Kershaw, of course, could step in a bear trap this winter and still make it into Cooperstown easily, 10-year minimum or no.Medium Background: Kershaw and Rizzo had faced each other 12 times before this series, not including spring training. (The first time they met, in spring training, is a bit interesting: Rizzo went 4-for-5 in a Cactus League game, but in his first exposure to Kershaw he struck out on three pitches.)In 2012, Rizzo went 0-for-3 with a strikeout and two weak groundouts. Hes a much better hitter now -- though Kershaw is probably a much better pitcher, as well -- and since 2014 hes 3-for-8 with a homer, a double and two strikeouts. Among left-handed hitters with at least four plate appearances against Kershaw since 2014, Rizzos 1.319 OPS against the ace is the best in baseball. These sorts of matchup stats are almost always meaningless due to sample size limitations, but, hey, Villefort only put Edmond Dantès in prison once. Even small samples can justify a grudge.Now to the present.First plate appearance: First inning.Kershaw has retired the first two Cubs in a scoreless game. He and Rizzo are both battling the narrative monsters, as Rizzo is 1-for-20 in this postseason (after hitting .188 in the 2015 playoffs) and Kershaw allowed eight runs in the NLDS (and a 5.12 ERA in 51 playoff innings before that).His first pitch to Rizzo is a fastball on the inner third of the plate and in the lower third of the zone.A little history: On Sept. 19, 2014, Kershaw hit Rizzo with a pitch, as 64 other pitchers have done. Like many of the other 64, Kershaw learned that he wouldnt have to miss by much to hand Rizzo a free base:In his career, Kershaw has thrown nearly 2,000 pitches further inside than that one, and only 26 hit the batter. So, what lesson might he have learned? Up to that pitch, he had thrown Rizzo 14 pitches, and five were on the inner half of the plate (or inside). After that pitch (but before Game 2), he threw Rizzo 25 pitches, and only two were on the inside half. This is common -- most lefties work Rizzo away, with about twice as many pitches on the outer half or outside than on the inner half or inside -- but its also plays into Rizzos game. His power is mostly on the outer half of the plate, especially against lefties throwing fastballs:To start the first at-bat in Game 2, though, Kershaw goes inside with the pitch, hitting Yasmani Grandals inside target. Rizzo takes a huge cut, fouling a popup back and out of play. The size of his swing pulls him across home plate and into the right-handed batters box, and as Kershaw follows the flight of the ball Rizzo shoots a brief glance at the pitcher.Its worth mentioning, probably, that Rizzo does not take many strikes from Kershaw. The first time Rizzo saw him in a regular season game, back in 2012, he swung at the first pitch he saw and fouled it off. The second time he saw him in that game, he swung at the first pitch he saw and fouled that one off, too. The third time he faced him that day, he swung at the first pitch he saw and grounded out. In a total of 15 plate appearances against Kershaw, Rizzo has taken only seven called strikes. If youre going to sit back and be 0-2 right away, if thats the case, youve got to hit, Rizzo would say after this game.Now ahead 0-1, Kershaw gets the same target -- inside --but leaves his pitch in the middle of the strike zone.This is, surprisingly, not Rizzos power zone -- on all pitches from all pitchers, he actually slugs lower in the center square of the zone than anywhere except up and in -- and pitches down the middle are, surprisingly, one of Clayton Kershaws strengths. Still, Rizzo is frustrated as he pops the pitch into shallow center field. Its a sluggers pop-up -- I clock it at 6.87 seconds, which is almost crazy -- and Rizzo snaps his bat to the ground as he turns out of the box. It never feels OK to just miss a fastball down the middle.Kershaw is perfect through one inning, and Rizzo is 1-for-21.Second Plate Appearance: Fourth Inning.Rizzo again bats with two outs, and Kershaw still hasnt allowed a baserunner in the game. The Cubs are now trailing by a run.Kershaws first pitch is yet another fastball at yet another inside target. He is apparently more concerned about staying away from Rizzos slugging zones than he is about clipping Rizzos elbow again, especially with two outs. He misses low with the pitch, and its 1-0.Kershaw didnt face the Cubs this year, so the last time Rizzo saw him was on Aug. 28, 2015. He homered in that game, and I count four good reasons for us to watch that at-bat right now:1. We see on 1-0 what happens when Rizzo, in a hitters count, gets a fastball in the zone from Kershaw: He takes one of the biggest swings youll ever see, just misses it, and appears to injure both the catcher and the umpire with the effort. The pitch is about one and a quarter inches from the middle of the strike zone.2. We see on the next pitch what happens when Kershaw throws him a curveball hes not looking for: He bails as badly as any other left-handed hitter would.3. We hear Vin Scully calling the at-bat. Remember how great Vin Scully was? Why would we ever pass up the chance to hear that again?4. We eventually see Rizzo hit his second-longest home run during the Statcast era, with his 27th-hardest exit velocity overall.Up until that plate appearance, Kershaw worked Rizzo mainly up in the zone, at least with his fastball. Here are the locations of all the fastballs he threw to Rizzo before Aug. 28, 2015:With the homer, Rizzo proved he could catch up to that pitch.In Rizzos next plate appearance that game -- the last matchup between these two before this LCS -- Kershaw worked down with the fastball and struck Rizzo out with a slider.To this point in Game 2, Kershaw has stayed with that -- low fastball targets, not high -- while pounding Rizzo in. Youd imagine that since his first at-bat, Rizzo has gone back into the tunnel to see the video of his first at-bat, so he knows Kershaw had the same inner target on both pitches. And he knows that Kershaw threw him another fastball on the inner half to start this at-bat.So, up 1-0, he is ready. Once again, he proves he can catch up to Kershaws fastball when he is ready: The result is a fly ball that sails out of Wrigley Field, 103.5 mph off the bat, a made-for-dingers 36 degree trajectory -- a combination that produces a home run two-thirds of the time, according to Statcast data -- but this much foul:Its the closest the Cubs have come to a baserunner, let alone a run. The count is 1-1.Kershaws next pitch is 95 mph and at Rizzos face. He squeezes his eyes shut as he sinks out of the way, the same way you or I would if a bully were about to punch us in the nose. He spends an extra couple beats kneeling in the box as the Wrigley crowd boos.Thats how you get somebody from covering the outer third of the plate, John Smoltz says on the telecast.After that you expect the famous Kershaw curveball, the big one that casts batters for GIFs. On the other hand, the curveball seems almost too obvious after the message fastball, and on 2-1 Kershaw goes not with the curve but a slider at the bottom of the zone. Rizzo swings and misses. On 2-2, the curveball comes.It has more downward movement than any curveball Kershaw will throw all night, according to PITCHf/x data. Rizzo freezes for just a second, but keeps his hip in and his hands back and he waits for it. The big loop pulls it out of the zone away, and Rizzo grounds harmlessly to first base. The perfect game and the lead survive.Third plate appearance: Seventh inning.The graphic that the inning leads with is the good news: Kershaws 6/2/0/0/0/5 pitching line. Uniquely to Kershaw, we might say he hasnt been as dominant as he usually is -- with only six swinging strikes, for instance, hell set a season low -- but hes thrown only 71 pitches and faced only two batters from the stretch.Ball one, though, isnt close: a slider way low. Ball two is the same. The bad news starts getting attention: Kenley Jansen, the Dodgers closer, is starting to loosen in the bullpen, even with nine outs to go in this game (and no Kershaw to relieve him). A new graphic on the screen displays Kershaws postseason ERA in the seventh inning and beyond: 28.93, so bad that you could omit the 2 and still sell a cant handle the pressure storyline. After ball two, Kershaw jerks his head back and stares disgustedly into left field.Heres a fun stat about Kershaw: This year, he threw 27 innings from the seventh on. He allowed three runs, which is an ERA of 1.00. In those 27 innings, he struck out 34 batters and walked one. Batters hit .161/.168/.183. Its, obviously, a small sample, but Kershaw this year was probably the best closer in baseball:So Kershaw, it should be agreed, can handle the seventh inning.Of course, nobody worries about Kershaw in the seventh inning unless its the postseason. Those worries are based on a total of 35 batters faced over 5 1/3 innings. One bad start, basically. Life is complicated enough without worrying about 35-batter samples, but we are how we are. On 2-0, Kershaw switches to a fastball, and its a little low for ball three.I was ready to swing there 3-0, no doubt, Rizzo will say. Its a 1-nothing game and one swing changes that. I was looking dead-red 3-0 and he threw it in the ground. The pitch bounces before it hit the plate.Its the least interesting at-bat of the game in many ways. None of the pitches were close, and after the first couple Kershaw wasnt trying anything more complicated than find the zone. But for the story it was, briefly, the most interesting. It fed the feeling that Kershaw might somehow keep this bizarre clustering of bad postseason innings going. It stoked the panic that one might have felt after a foul popup by Ben Zobrist, the next batter, was dropped. It would have turned out to be the second or third biggest moment of the game if, minutes later, Javier Baezs deep flyball to center field had sneaked over the wall instead of finding Joc Pedersons glove. Instead, its nothing.Rizzos walk added 8 percentage points to the Cubs chances of winning Game 2. It was, up to that point, his most valuable at-bat in the 2016 postseason.The Disclaimer: Its important to remember that every player goes onto the field with the intention of executing his game. For all the talk of adjustments, for all the effort put into scouting reports and pregame meetings, the pitchers primary plan is to make his pitch and the batters primary plan is to see the ball and hit it hard. For all their experience with each other, Kershaw and Rizzo in Game 6 will recognize each other and, for the most part, remain themselves.And it will be awesome. Odds are something big will happen. Nike Vapormax Womens Trainers Sale .C. -- After a listless first half, the Washington Wizards used a big third quarter run to beat the Charlotte Bobcats Bradley Beal scored 21 points and the Wizards used a 17-0 run in the third quarter to take control of what had been a close game and beat the Bobcats 97-83 on Tuesday night. Cheap Vapormax Womens White . - After leading the Saints to a fourth playoff appearance in five seasons, Drew Brees expressed confidence in the direction of his team and, perhaps more importantly, showed a willingness to listen to contract proposals if the team needs his help getting under the NFLs salary cap. http://www.vapormaxwholesaleuk.com/wholesale-vapormax-mens-trainers.html . Tuesdays surgery at Atlantas Piedmont Hospital was performed by Dr. Xavier Duralde and Hawks team physician Dr. Michael Bernot. Vapormax Plus Womens Uk . Coach Tom Thibodeau says the former MVP will probably start travelling with the team in the next few weeks. Rose tore the meniscus in his right knee at Portland in November and was ruled out for the remainder of the season by the Bulls. Vapormax Mens White Sale Uk . It was the second consecutive win for the Pacers (2-5), who lost their first five preseason games. Jeff Teague led the Hawks (1-5) with 17 points and eight assists and Al Horford had 12 points and seven rebounds. Mike Scott scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half. Nikita Miller, the Jamaica captain, has said he was more focused on securing victory for his side rather than gaining a record 10-wicket innings haul against Trinidad & Tobago in the recently concluded fourth round of the WICB Regional Four-Day Tournament.Millers figures of 9 for 41 in T&Ts second innings were the best in West Indies domestic history. He became only the sixth bowler to claim nine in an innings in recorded West Indies first-class statistics since 1966. My reaction was quite normal and wasnt overly excited to be honest, Miller told ESPNcricinfo. I didnt know at the time it was the best, since I knew Bishoo had taken nine wickets a couple of seasons ago, so I was just glad it was accomplished in a winning team effort.Miller took the first nine wickets of T&Ts innings, before the legspinner Damion Jacobs had Roshon Primus lbw to deny him the honour of being the first West Indian to take all ten in an innings. Miller says the feat wasnt on his mind, in the heat of the moment.Leaving the field some fans asked me why I didnt push to get all 10, but really as captain I was mainly focused on getting Trinidad all out, he said. There was many points at other end when the batsmen were scoring freely, so even while bowling and I didnt even celebrate the ninth wicket, I was thinking about bowling options, field placements for next bowler and over.During West Indies decline over the last 20 years or so, there has been a long-standing debate over the standard of domestic ccricket in the Caribbean.ddddddddddddThe pitches have tended not to help the fast bowlers, which has meant spinners such as Miller have always among the leading wicket-takers. Some believe the success of spinners reflects how poorly Caribbean batsmen have tended to play slow bowling.In the case of Miller, who has an outstanding first-class record - 428 wickets in 84 matches at an astounding average of 16.64 - and was a major player in Jamaica winning six first-class titles between 2007 and 2014, those aforementioned reasons have probably played a part in the last three West Indies chairmen of selectors - Clyde Butts, Clive Lloyd and Courtney Browne - ignoring him for Test cricket.If called up to do a job [by West Indies], will do to best of ability - but my mind is not really on it, Miller said. The one thing Id say about criticism of whether I could replicate my domestic performances at Test level, and can only speak for myself - I have played in A team cricket in 2013 versus India and Sri Lanka, playing against guys like [Virender] Sehwag, [Gautam] Gambhir, [Cheteshwar] Pujara, Yuvraj [Singh] and got five-wicket hauls and was the leading West Indies A wicket-taker.Yes, the standard (of West Indies domestic cricket) could improve to another level, but if it was I believe Id still do well, because if youre good, you perform despite the standard. ' ' '