GIF-imaufry: Five Clayton Kershaw Sliders

The attentive reader will notice that yesterday, at mission control, I wrote a love letter to Clayton Kershaw and his newfound command.

Please believe me, reader, when I say that said piece does not represent the last of the electronic ink I’ll be spilling on Kershaw and/or his Ample Talent.

In fact, in what I’m calling GIF-imaufry (in homage to our white-bearded forebears), I present this: five sliders, from Clayton Kershaw’s hand to your eyes.

All five of the GIFs you see here are from Kershaw’s 12-strikeout performance against the Giants on July 20th. They all contain footage of Kershaw inducing a swing and miss on a slider. (Per Brooks Baseball, Kershaw got whiffs on six sliders. I didn’t find the sixth one. Che to the sarà, is my thought on that matter.)

Otherwise, um, here:

1. Cody Ross, Bottom 1st:

2. Brandon Belt, Bottom 2nd:

3. Mike Fontenot, Bottom 6th:

4. Aaron Rowand, Bottom 6th:

5. Cody Ross (again), Bottom 6th*:

*Note how Kershaw causes time to stop momentarily just as he’s about to release the ball. Let’s see your Pitch F/x analysis of that, Dave Allen.