WHEN KERSHAW CAN’T SEEK PERFECTION, MLB HAS ONLY ITSELF TO KICK

A sport that needs joyful headlines and historic moments decided a lockout was more important, so don’t blame the Dodgers and Padres for protecting pitchers after they flirted with masterpieces

     Rob Manfred and the owners — sounds like a Holiday Inn lounge band, I know — should have considered the risk of squandering historic moments when they bastardized the season. By extending the lockout to 99 days and shortening spring training, they were doomed to sabotage an already fraught relationship with fans. The biggest issue was health, not only the possibility of serious injuries but the ramifications of prioritizing player preservation over the sport’s natural events.

     Who knew the fallout would haunt Major League Baseball three times in the very first week? Who knew magic would keep turning to mess?

     Last Thursday, Yu Darvish threw six hitless innings for the Padres. But there was no thought of letting him continue and pursue a no-hitter, instead protecting his arm after 92 pitches thanks to … the labor impasse. A night later, Darvish’s teammate, Sean Manaea, pitched seven no-hit innings on just 88 pitches. Again, he was yanked by San Diego manager Bob Melvin, who erred on the side of caution once more while resisting his fondest wishes as a fan. All Manaea needed were six outs. Sorry, health is the end game right now — sweet memories, uncommon joy and big headlines be damned.

     “It’s a life-changing thing. I never want to take a guy out. They just don’t happen very often,’’ Melvin said of an achievement that has happened 314 times since 1876. “With the shortened spring, you're talking about 60 and 70 pitches that guys have thrown (so far). If it’s three or four starts into the season, it’s different.’’

    The outcry was minimal because Darvish and Manaea were flirting with no-nos, not perfect games. But then came a cold Wednesday afternoon In Minneapolis, where the greatest starting pitcher of his generation faced the minimum of 21 Twins batters over seven innings. He struck out 13 of them. He didn’t allow a hit. He didn’t allow a walk. No one reached base via error.

     Clayton Kershaw was twirling a perfect game, en route to possibly the 24th such masterpiece ever. In a first-ballot Hall of Fame career deserving of a unanimous vote, a perfecto is about all he hasn’t accomplished during his 15 seasons with the Dodgers. Life in much of southern California halted at once. People looked for ways to stream the game on a device, find a bar to watch on a big screen, or listen on the car radio. Swaths of America’s sports fandom were doing the same. This was Kershaw, after all, and this was a where-were-you interlude that keeps us watching baseball even when we’re sick of the commissioner and owners who’ve run a sport into near-oblivion.

    Our hearts sank when manager Dave Roberts, in the bottom of the eighth, summoned reliever Alex Vesia with a 7-0 lead. Just as you couldn’t blame Melvin, you couldn’t blame Roberts, not this time. If Kershaw had more time to build strength in his left arm during a normal spring training — after a 2021 nightmare when he missed the postseason with a re-aggravated left elbow injury and missed two months with left forearm discomfort — he might have been capable of pursuing perfection with less at stake medically. But pitch limits must be obeyed, particularly on a 38-degree day, when a 34-year-old warrior dealing with significant health challenges can’t afford to jeopardize what might be his final major-league season. The Dodgers and Padres have World Series aspirations and massive payrolls. And while Kershaw was dominant and seemed to have another 20 filthy pitches in him, after throwing just 80, common sense had to prevail.

     He, too, knew where the finger should be pointed. “Blame it on the lockout. Blame it on me not picking up a baseball until January,’’ he said.

     Frustrated Dodgers fans, including those who booed behind home plate at Target Field, should direct their wrath not at Roberts but Manfred. Kershaw seemed to agree, not arguing with Roberts in the dugout as he has after past yankings. He hugged catcher Austin Barnes, who would have liked a shot at history, and accepted congratulations from teammates on the bench. After the 7-0 victory, finalized after Vesia gave up Minnesota’s only hit, Kershaw said he’d told Roberts after the sixth that he preferred to work one more inning with no more than 85 pitches.

     “It would be special. But at the end of the day, those are individual things. Those are selfish goals,’’ Kershaw said of a perfect game. “We’re trying to win. That’s really all we’re here for. … Maybe we’ll get another chance, who knows?’’

     When pressed, he said, “I would have loved to have stayed. But bigger things, man, bigger things. … It’s a hard thing to have to come out of the game when you’re doing that. But we’re here to win and this was the right choice.”

     Roberts didn’t need advanced analytics to arrive at the right decision. He has been ripped before for removing pitchers as they chase history — most notably, an incensed Rich Hill as he was pursuing perfection through seven innings. But no sensible soul would criticize him Wednesday, given the post-lockout circumstances. “I’m as big a fan as anyone of Clayton, and to see a battery of him and Austin throw a perfect game or a no-hitter, I’m all in,’’ Roberts said. “But to what end or to what cost? Every decision I make is for the best interest of the player, their health and the ballclub, because there's a lot of people cheering for the Dodgers, not only just for today and Clayton to throw a no-hitter, but for the Dodgers to win the World Series.

     “For us to do that, we need him healthy.''

     A new collective bargaining agreement saved the sport from a death spiral, but it didn’t create contentment among the players. The tension is palpable, with the Nationals playing a dangerous beanball game last week with the Mets, who were ready to brawl after Pete Alfonso was hit in the face one night and Francisco Lindor on the helmet the next. A benches-clearing incident between the Cubs and Brewers led to suspensions for Cubs manager David Ross and pitcher Keegan Thompson. Those teams might not like each other, but the anger is triggered by a sad truth: Many players don’t like the labor deal.

     Nor are they impressed by the gifts sent to all major-leaguers by the commissioner. As a post-lockout peace offering, Manfred gifted them $200 Bose headphones. “Please accept this gift as a small gesture of my appreciation for the hard work that comes with being a Major Leaguer and your respect for our incredible fans," he wrote in a letter. "Thank you for everything you do in a game that has such a rich history and deep meaning to our fans in the U.S. and around the world. Wishing you the best of luck for a successful season."

     If they’re smart, the players will check if the headphones are bugged. They don’t trust Manfred and the owners — and likely never will. “To just put it bluntly, he doesn't do anything for us," Cardinals veteran Adam Wainwright said. “I know how that's going to read, so Commissioner Manfred, don't take it personal. That's just how it looks from a players' standpoint."

     From a fans’ standpoint, the game continues to take a backseat amid what should be the fun and delight of watching baseball. The lockout ended a month ago, but its residue will continue to smear the games. Had spring training started on time, chances are Kershaw would have seen the eighth and ninth innings. Instead, we were left with his rationalizations.

     “My slider was horrible the last two innings. It didn’t have the bite,’’ he said. “It was time.’’

     In truth, the slider forced hitters to whiff on 17 of 27 swings. Wouldn’t we have loved to see it a few more times, as he chased perfection?

     Somewhere, Manfred and the owners didn’t care much. The new CBA is signed. They will count their profits for five more years, assuming the fans don’t flee in disgust as they’re robbed of all-time thrills.

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     Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.