The hitters could know what was coming and it didn’t matter. He conveyed messages to them by how he pitched and how he comported himself on the mound: Here it is. Go ahead. Try to hit it.
The words, “We are young,” continue to be blasted out of the loudspeakers every time Clayton Kershaw takes the mound at Dodger Stadium, but he isn’t the pitcher he was in his youth.
If Kershaw used to be revered for what he could do with a baseball, he’s admired today as a 30-year-old for what he can’t.
The 94s and 95s that used to be displayed on the in-stadium radar gun are now 90s and 91s.