By Josh:
I didn’t grow up in the golden age of pitching in baseball. I never got to watch greats like Koufax, Gibson, Spahn, and so many other greats. I have been privileged to watch pitchers like Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez. However, two pitchers who pitched on Sunday are easily the two best pitchers I have ever seen in person, and are possibly two of the best to play the game of baseball.
These two pitchers are Felix Hernandez and Clayton Kershaw. Now I know a lot of people would argue over which pitcher is the best in the game right now but I doubt that there would be very many who would argue about these two being any thing other than the two best in the game right now.
Kershaw went 7 innings on Sunday giving up no runs, which extends his scoreless streak to 28 innings. This feat alone makes him the front runner for the NL Cy Young in my book, but when you add the fact that he is 9-2 with a 2.04 ERA, it is just amazing how good he is.
Hernandez also shined on Sunday, going 8 innings and giving up a grand total of 1 hit. Sitting with a record of 10-2 and an ERA of 2.10, I can easily make an argument that he is the AL Cy Young leader at the moment.
Both of these pitchers are talents that will be talked about for generations to come. The only thing either of these players is missing is a World Series title. I don’t know if either player will ever get a title, I think Kershaw and the Dodgers have a good chance and the Mariners are an up and coming team, but regardless these two are still players that I will tell my grandchildren about.
If you have never had the opportunity to watch either of these players pitch, even just on TV, I would strongly encourage you to try and find a game they are in and just sit down and watch how they work. They are Hall of Fame caliber pitchers, still pitching in the best years of their careers.