CBS2's Gina Miller Talks With Dodgers' Kershaw, Pederson About All-Star Game
Gina Miller, CBS2/KCAL9
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — "The fact that Clayton is a substitute is asinine. He should have been there from the beginning." — Brett Anderson, Dodgers pitcher.
It's not often you hear a professional athlete say something so refreshingly candid…and true. But Dodgers pitcher Brett Anderson spoke the truth after LA's come-from-behind 4-3 win over the Brewers on Sunday.
Prior to the game, pitcher Clayton Kershaw learned he was, in fact, going to make his fifth straight All-Star Game appearance when he was named to the National League squad by virtue of Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer making a scheduled start on Sunday.
"I'm just excited to get to go. You never know when it will be your last one," Kershaw told me after the Dodgers win.
Kershaw had planned to make a quick trip home to Dallas during the break. (Perhaps for some housework? I ran into him at a Home Depot looking for Christmas lights last year. See, even MVPs have honey-do's).
"At the same time I knew that Max (Scherzer) was pitching on Sunday, as well as (Johnny) Cueto. Things like that worked in my favor, so it was great."
Kershaw didn't start the year well, going 3-3 with a 3.86 ERA heading into June. Since then, though, he's posted a 1.72 ERA. Overall he's is 6-6 with 2.85 ERA and fresh off a start against the Phillies in which he scattered eight hits and struck out 13 in a complete game shutout.
Center fielder Joc Pederson will be the first Dodgers rookie position player to start an All-Star game on Tuesday, filling in for Cardinals outfielder Matt Holliday who is battling a right quad strain.
Pederson found out Sunday morning from a teammate.
"It's pretty exciting. Kike (Hernandez) was the first one to tell me," Pederson told me. "It's kind of surreal but I'm looking forward to it and looking to help the National League win so we can have home field advantage."
Pederson is just one of six Dodgers rookies to earn a trip to the Midsummer Classic. Two pitchers, Fernando Valenzuela (1981) and Hideo Nomo (1995), have started.
