Trevor Bauer masters being a heel in his first Dodgers-Giants rivalry game

Trevor Bauer is excellent at pitching and being the bad guy, and he was so good at both Friday night that he earned a few more words from this space. Writing about him is a tiresome, yet necessary, ritual because of his ability to do things that excite social media.

Bauer starred — and stirred — in his first Dodgers-Giants rivalry game. He allowed just an unearned run over 6 1/3 innings for LA in its 2-1 series-opening win. He labored through 126 pitches, which gave him lots of opportunities to strut and posture, taunt and tease.

In one instance, he paid homage to the Pitching Ninja after a swinging strikeout of Alex Dickerson. The not-quite-full hack was a “sword,” in Ninja parlance, so Bauer pantomimed sheathing a large one.

“That’s weak,” Giants TV analyst Mike Krukow huffed.  

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After Dodgers manager Dave Roberts took Bauer out of the game in the seventh, the right-hander invited the Giants fans at Oracle Park to hate him once more, with feeling. He mixed “Is that all you’ve got?” with “Are you not entertained?”

“They’re going to hate me anyway, you know, so might as well lean into it,” Bauer told reporters. “I like when the crowd’s into it; it makes the moment feel bigger and I perform better in those moments, so it just feeds me.”

“Fans wanted to boo me, so I wanted them to turn the volume up,” he added. “If you’re going to boo me, then don’t . . . half-whatever it. . . . just give it to me.”  

That Bauer-ness obscures his stellar mound work in 2021: a 5-2 record, 1.98 ERA and 12.4 strikeouts per nine innings in his first 10 starts for the Dodgers. He has outpitched rotation mates Clayton Kershaw and Walker Buehler, who both have been terrific.

“The more you see him, I mean, you just love the compete, the execution, the ability to make pitches when he needs to,” Roberts said. “We needed him to go deep tonight (after a bullpen game Thursday) and he took that challenge, embraced it and left it all out there.” 

Bauer’s physical and mental tools have made him one of the game’s best pitchers. His knack for acting like a tool has made him one of the best in the internet game.

He is the heel who brings the heat. And he’s running plenty hot.