Column: A marquee pitching matchup Sunday at Wrigley Field, Patrick Wisdom versus ‘Kong’ and other baseball thoughts

A smorgasbord of baseball for a lazy Sunday on the couch.

Marquee matters

If you grew up watching Bob Gibson and Fergie Jenkins duel at Wrigley Field, you should love watching Los Angeles Dodgers star Clayton Kershaw face off Sunday afternoon against the Chicago Cubs’ Marcus Stroman.

Kershaw won his 200th game Tuesday and has one of the top winning percentages in major-league history. Stroman has allowed only two earned runs over 24 innings in four starts for a 0.75 ERA.

Marquee matchups such as Stroman-Kershaw are what MLB needs but doesn’t know how to market.

When Kerry Wood faced Roger Clemens on June 7, 2003, the Wrigley Field marquee simply read “Wood vs. Clemens” instead of Cubs vs. Yankees. That was the definition of a marquee matchup.

The juicy Stroman-Kershaw matchup is what MLB should be marketing instead of promoting the success of the new pitch clock like it saved the game.

“It’s always good to see marquee starters go head-to-head,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Sunday’s matchup. “It brings out the best in each individual, and I think the fans really enjoy that. I haven’t seen a Stroman-Kershaw matchup, so I’m excited about it. It’s going to be a fun one. They’re both throwing the baseball really well.”

Kershaw, like Tom Brady, seems impervious to the aging process. Though wins have been replaced by various metrics as the most determinative way to judge a starter’s quality, Kershaw’s .694 winning percentage (200-88) ranks fifth all time and slightly ahead of 10th-ranked Pedro Martinez, the best pitcher of his generation (219-100, .687).

How does Kershaw manage to keep dominating despite injuries and aging?

“The consistency of preparation, and he has three elite pitches,” Roberts said. “And just his will to have success. He’s just not going to be denied.”

Mission accomplished

Soon there will be no there there in Oakland, as Gertrude Stein might say.

News that the Oakland A’s have purchased land in Las Vegas to build a new ballpark means the end is at hand for the city’s long-neglected ballclub and ballpark.

The A’s signed a binding agreement on a 49-acre plot in Las Vegas near Allegiant Stadium, home of the former Oakland Raiders. Plenty of issues must be resolved before we know any timeline, but A’s President Dave Kaval said a stadium could be ready for opening day 2027, which gives A’s owner John Fisher more time to let the ballpark fall apart.

It’s a sad ending to a pathetic story of team mismanagement on the business side and lack of spending on the baseball side. It’s almost like an old-school sports movie in which the evil owner tries to run the team into the ground so they can move (see ”Slap Shot,” “Major League,” etc. ).

Oakland should be used to this by now. The Raiders left twice, and the Golden State Warriors moved across the bay to San Francisco. But it still hurts. Vida Blue to “Viva Las Vegas” has been a long, strange trip.

A new stadium assuredly will cure all the A’s ills, just as PNC Park did for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Great American Ball Park did for the Cincinnati Reds.

Oh, wait. Those franchises still haven’t won anything in their “new” parks despite their teams insisting a modern facility was necessary to be competitive? Never mind.

A’s fans have organized a reverse boycott for a June 13 game to show they can support a team whose management continuously disrespects them. It’s too late, but it should be a memorable event.

Upper deck 101

Closing the upper deck at Guaranteed Rate Field for a few games last week made sense for the White Sox from an economic perspective. Why have concessions open and security on hand if so few fans deem it worthwhile to sit up there?

Of course, that also meant Sox fans paying full freight for box seats sitting next to those who bought much cheaper upper-deck tickets and were instructed to find seats in the lower bowl.

If the Sox don’t come out of their early-season tailspin, getting even the lower bowl filled could be a problem.

Trademark this

A smiley face emoji and a talking belly button emoji seemed like an appropriate T-shirt combo for a Smyly-Belly afternoon Friday at Wrigley Field. Drew Smyly pitched seven perfect innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers and Cody Bellinger homered against his former team. Could Smyly/Belly be the new Bryzzo?

Sunday morning flashback

White Sox slugger Paul Konerko hit his only inside-the-park home run on April 12, 2000, at Tropicana Field in a 13-6 win against the Tampa Bay Rays. Konerko was the slowest player on the team, but lined a pitch off the center-field wall and was waved around third base by coach “Wavin’ Wally” Johnson.

“It was kind of a blur,” Konerko said. “Well, I wasn’t a blur. But it happened quickly.”

It was the first inside-the-parker for the Sox since the equally slow-footed Ron Karkovice on Aug. 30, 1990, at the Metrodome.

Mute button

Are there two more whiny modern-day athletes than New York Mets pitcher Max Scherzer and Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green? Nothing is ever their fault in spite of a smoking gun.

Chicago’s very own

Jason Heyward is a Dodger, but he kept his home in Chicago and still lives here. Upon his return Thursday, Heyward was asked whether he thought he might not see Wrigley Field again after the Cubs let him go.

“Might not see it? Well, I’m a resident,” he replied. “I knew at some point I would see Wrigley again. That might have been walking the dogs out here in the outfield.”

Wisdom vs. Kong

Dave “Kong” Kingman was remembered for two things in Chicago — hitting monstrous home runs at Wrigley Field and striking out the rest of the time.

In his three-year stint on the North Side from 1978-80, Kingman struck out 21.7% of his at-bats and hit 94 home runs in 345 games, including a league-leading 48 in 1979.

Cubs third baseman/outfielder Patrick Wisdom has Kingman’s raw power and a 90.9 EV (exit velocity), which reliable sources indicate means he hits the ball very hard when making contact.

Kingman played before EV ever was dreamed of as a baseball statistic. But he once hit a ball that rolled down Kenmore Avenue beyond the left-field bleachers. As power goes, they’re at least in the same area code.

But Wisdom has struck out 36.5% of the time in his three seasons with the Cubs (plus two games in 2020) while hitting 62 home runs in 260 games. His 31.6% strikeout rate heading into Saturday was an improvement, and the Cubs seem willing to accept it in return for his league-leading .743 slugging percentage. It has paid off so far.

Kingman’s 48-homer season in 1979 was a remarkable one to watch unfold. Wisdom already has nine homers through 20 games.

It could mean nothing, of course.

But keep an eye on it.