Daily Distractions: More on Clayton Kershaw, Hanley Ramirez, and wrapped body parts.

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I could have written a lot more about Clayton Kershaw for my game story from the Dodgers’ win yesterday but I didn’t (mostly) for two reasons:

1. As great as he was, Kershaw pitches like that all the time
2. He didn’t talk to reporters after the game

Kershaw’s absence was due to a “personal matter,” a team spokesperson said. As Kershaw walked down the tunnel out of the Dodgers’ clubhouse, his left shoulder appeared to be heavily wrapped under his shirt — as it typically is after each game Kershaw pitches — which merely means that the pitcher wasted little time leaving the building.

More on Kershaw in a bit. I’m highlighting the point about his shoulder because this tweet caused a bit of a stir yesterday:

Underneath that wrap was a still-healing ligament in Ramirez’s right thumb. It’s easy to assume that the hand was wrapped because Ramirez re-injured the thumb. Folks at the game said that he slid awkwardly into second base in the fifth inning. Did he do something to his thumb sliding?

Probably not. Ramirez remained in the game to play another inning in the field after the slide. He was removed in the top of the seventh inning, which is exactly when the Dodgers wanted him to leave. It’s believed that Ramirez wrapped his thumb after the game merely as a precaution, much like a pitcher who just threw 117 pitches wraps a healthy shoulder.

More Monday bullet points:

• Starting with more Kershaw. Buster Olney of ESPN.com dug up this stat in his column today:

Kershaw got his 19th career 10-strikeout game Sunday versus the Brewers. Over the past 90 seasons, only five other lefties 25 years old or younger have more 10-strikeout games than Kershaw. However, Kershaw just turned 25 on March 19, so he’ll have the rest of the season to add to his total.

Most games with 10-plus K’s, LHP age 25 or younger (past 90 seasons)

Sam McDowell: 49
Sandy Koufax: 31
Frank Tanana: 26
Herb Score: 25
Fernando Valenzuela: 24
Clayton Kershaw: 19
Vida Blue: 19

• Kershaw retired 18 Brewers in a row from the second inning to the seventh. In between, he struck out all but two Milwaukee hitters: Jonathan Lucroy and Carlos Gomez.

• Former Dodgers hitting coach Jeff Pentland could use a job.

• Yesterday, historian Michael Beschloss offered a baseball photo on his Twitter feed. That’s a young Frank Sinatra on the left, a retired Lou Gehrig in the middle.

• When NBC forced viewers to switch from watching a Raiders-Jets game to the movie “Heidi” on Nov. 17, 1968, an important rule was born: Finish showing the game, no matter the score. The Raiders scored two touchdowns at the end of the game to beat the Jets, but no one saw it. Pittsburgh Pirates fans didn’t miss a dramatic ending yesterday, but they did miss the end of the game when the Pittsburgh station switched to a Penguins game instead.

• The movie “42” unwittingly highlighted sports’ backward stance toward gay athletes, Yahoo! Sports’ Jeff Passan wrote on April 15. Today, on the anniversary of Robinson’s first game as a Brooklyn Dodger, we know that NBA center Jason Collins is gay.

• These are a few of my favorite samples, contained in one song, “Finally Moving” by Pretty Lights: