Game 1 Standouts



Clayton Kershaw and Justin Turner were the bookends as the Dodgers grabbed Game One of the 2017 World Series. Baseball's best lefthander fired seven dominating innings of three-hit ball, while striking out 11. Think of another Dodger lefty who did that well on the game's biggest stage. His name also begins with a K -- Sandy Koufax.
Then, there's the Met castoff, the co-star with Daniel Murphy in the upcoming documentary Life After Flushing (just kidding). Justin Turner smacked the tie-breaking home run to give the Dodgers a lead. A sweet night for the L.A. guys as the Dodgers returned to the World Series for the first time in 29 years.
And a quick shoutout to FOX TV's Joe Buck for getting it right. Moments after mentioning that Turner's two-run homer tied him with Hall of Famer Duke Snyder for the most post-season RBIs in Dodgers history at 26, he put that stat in its proper context, by noting that Snyder, and fellow Brooklyn-era icons Roy Campanella and Gil Hodges, played when the post-season was only the World Series not four rounds. Obviously, Duke, Campy and Gil had far fewer opportunities when their Octobers maxed out at 7 games, not a potential 19 or 20 per year. (And in those far-ago days, two of the then 16 clubs made "the post-season," or 1/8 of the teams. These days, 10 of the 30 play at least one post-season game -- 1/3 of all franchises. More games and  more opportunities mean such stats can't be compared to baseball of the pre-1995 and especially pre-1969 eras.)

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