Blue Jays Series Preview: Jays look to continue streak against Dodgers top arms

Game 2: May 7 – 1:07 ET

Clayton Kershaw (3-1, 1.96 ERA, 1.83 FIP) vs.
R.A. Dickey (1-3, 5.73 ERA, 4.40 FIP)

This matchup is a tough one for the Jays. Getting Kershaw in a three game set is unlucky as it is, but it gets worse when he’s facing R.A. Dickey. Kershaw is the best pitcher in the game, he’s in a class of his own. On one hand, I’m excited to watch him pitch in Toronto against the Jays, simply because he’s a destined Hall of Famer, but on the other, I’m not pleased because whenever he takes the mound, the Dodgers are likely going to win.

He gets better every year, and he’s won multiple Cy Youngs. His arsenal features four plus pitches, he has elite command, and he’s an incredible competitor on the mound. There is nothing in his game that you can critique, and he can carve up any hitter or team.

The Jays should go into this one with an aggressive approach against his fastball, and jump on it when he throws it in the zone early in the game. His off-speed stuff is nasty, and nearly unhittable when he’s on, so getting on the fastball is going to be key. Mind you, that’s difficult when it has some of the highest vertical movement in the game, and he can put it wherever he wants, but yea, no one said it was going to be easy.

In his last start he dominated the San Diego Padres. It’s just the Padres, but still, it was downright silly: CG, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 14 K. His game score was an even 100, the third highest mark of his career.

R.A. Dickey has been an interesting case this year. When you watch him pitch, it looks like the knuckler is darting around, and it’s getting swing and misses. But despite the movement, it also seems to be getting hit very hard. It’s like he’s been getting a whiff or it’s been hard contact, no in-between. Now, this isn’t going to last, his FIP and xFIP are actually better than last year’s totals despite the inflated 5.73 ERA.

Luck is going to start falling his way soon, but there’s simply no way to tell with him. His strikeouts are up, but so are his walks, and this points towards the fact that his knuckleball has lots of movement, but perhaps he’s putting himself in more hitter counts, which causes him to either walk more guys or pipe more pitches.

Either way, he’s a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get from him, but he has been known to go on runs where he throws quality starts for 2-3 straight months. Even if he does, I don’t like the Jays’ chances in this one.

Next: Finale: Toronto's best chances at the dish