the k is for kershaw kountdown continues - slightly delayed editon

yes, the kountdown to 3,000 strikeouts for clayton kershaw continues as he took the mound against the mariners on saturday night in seattle. he struck out 4 batters to give him 127 strikeouts on the season. those 4 mariners that he k'd increased his career total to 2,934.

in honor of his performance, here are 4 cards from my collection to represent strikeouts 2,931 through 2,934.

2,931 - 2017 topps fire flame parallel

2,932 - 2018 topps fire flame parallel

2,933 - 2020 topps fire gold minted parallel

2,934 - 2021 topps fire flame parallel

kershaw remains in 21st place on the all-time leader board, and he will remain there until he passes zack greinke. greinke, who struck out 4 blue jays and 1 astro in his appearances since the last countdown post, has a career strikeout total of 2,967. kershaw is now 33 k's behind greinke and 66 away from the 3,000 milestone. 

kershaw's start was delayed, not due to injury (according to dave roberts), but rather as a way of lining things up for him as the dodgers approach the postseason (again, according to roberts). he went only four innings, and again didn't have his best stuff - at least in the first couple of innings. with the rag tag starting rotation that the dodgers have in place right now, it seems like a healthy kershaw would get the game 1 nlds start although he is following bobby miller in the rotation so it could be the rookie. time is marching on...

it looks like kershaw's next start will come at home later in the week against the giants. regardless of when he makes his next start or how many k's he posts, i will be back to update the kountdown soon thereafter. stay tuned!

memorial patches for don sutton and tommy lasorda

i was watching a clip from trevor bauer's introductory press conference this past spring and noticed the two patches on the jersey he was wearing - one for tommy lasorda and one for don sutton. i was pleased to see that, as the patches matched the design used for don newcombe's memorial patch worn by the club in 2019, and avoided the combination of memorials as they had done for roy campanella and don drysdale who passed away within a couple of weeks of each other back in 1993.

for the majority of the season, the dodgers wore these patches stacked - tommy's on top - on their right sleeves.

thanks, 2021 topps fire albert pujols!

during their first home series against the nationals (april 9-11), the patches were worn side by side, with the 2020 world champions patch being worn below them. you can see this on clayton kershaw's topps now card

although lasorda's patch is not fully visible. 

i was a little surprised that the braves didn't include a memorial for sutton, but they had two bigger legends to remember in hank aaron and phil niekro. in my opinion, they didn't do enough as i mentioned in a previous post.

of the nearly 100 former major leaguers who passed away in 2021, many wore dodger blue at one time - it wasn't just lasorda and sutton that the franchise lost. from cy young award winner mike marshall to personal favorite joe beckwith to willard hunter, who appeared in just one game for the dodgers, they all are missed.