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LOS ANGELES -- No matter how you slice it, Clayton Kershaw continues to make Dodgers history. But as Kershaw continues to write his ever-growing chapter in the franchise record book, he's doesn't let himself think about the past.
"I try not to think about it. No disrespect to the history. I understand how those guys came before me and this organization has a lot of of pride and tradition. I'm not trying to take anything away from that," Kershaw said after Friday night's 11-0 win over the Rockies. "For me it's too hard to think about all that stuff and continue to pitch. I just try to enjoy every start I can get and hopefully try not to screw things up too bad."
Kershaw's singular focus on the moment and the game at hand led to another great start on Friday night, with six scoreless innings against Colorado. In 10 home starts against the Rockies in his career, he has held Colorado scoreless six times.
Friday was the 10th scoreless start of the season for Kershaw, the most in baseball.
"With Clayton it's just been all year. It's been an amazing season. He had one game in there, maybe two, where he was a little rough," said manager Don Mattingly. "If we would have gotten this guy some runs for him he would have won 25 or 26 games this year."
The 11 runs scored by the Dodgers were the most support this year for Kershaw, who saw the club score 14 total runs in his nine losses. Mattingly cited Kershaw's focus as a strength.
"He doesn't change. That's the one thing about Clayton, he just attacks," Mattingly said. "It's like the scoreboard's not even there."
Kershaw finished his regular season with 16 wins, and is an overwhelming favorite to win his second National League Cy Young Award. But now that his masterpiece of a regular season is complete, Kershaw is already thinking ahead to his next goal.
"Nobody remembers second place. They remember who won the World Series," he said. "Getting to the playoffs is nice, but at the end of the day unless you win it all nobody remembers. That's why we're here. That's what we play for."