Clayton Kershaw avoided certain embarrassment after Team USA teased usage vs. Italy

On Tuesday night, Clayton Kershaw was spotted by the FOX broadcast warming up in Team USA's bullpen in the top of the eighth, as his team was losing to Team Italy by four runs. David Bednar was on the mound with the bases loaded and two outs, and Kershaw was evidently the next man up if the Yankees' closer failed to escape the jam.

It never happened. Bednar got Jakob Marsee to ground out to end the inning. And Kershaw should probably be thankful for it.

Italy went up 8-0 by the middle of the sixth, a shocking upset for a US team replete with All-Stars, MVPs, and Cy Young winners. They scored six runs in late innings, but it wasn't enough.

Sure, Team USA losing to Team Italy is a story in itself, but USA manager Mark DeRosa made it an even bigger deal when he said the morning before the game: "We want to win this gameeven though our ticket's punched to the quarterfinals."

It wasn't. The USA's loss meant that there's a chance, per convoluted tiebreaker rules, they don't make it the quarterfinals. If Mexico beats Italy on Wednesday night but allows or scores six or less runs, the US will get an early exit in pool play.

Kershaw coming in and pitching out of Bednar's jam wouldn't have mattered in the grand scheme of things, but if Kershaw — who hasn't had a formal ramp-up this year and has a dicey past in high-leverage innings — made the whole thing even worse? Oh boy.

Clayton Kershaw should be glad he wasn't a part of Team USA's meltdown against Team Italy

Dodgers fans are intensely protective of Kershaw, and for good reason, but ... we can be honest with ourselves here, right?

Surely he did some of his own preparations to pitch in a high-intensity tournament and did pitch a little in exhibition games ahead of pool play, but he hasn't had a real spring training, and the choking Kershaw memes — while they will have little-to-no bearing on his actual legacy or Hall of Fame chances — aren't completely unfounded.

DeRosa's fumbling just compounded the misery. Not only did the USA lose to a team that had Michael Lorenzen on the bump to start, their manager didn't even fully understand the tournament's rules.

Kershaw wants to pitch for this team. He called it a "bucket list item." But being one of the faces of perhaps the most embarrassing upset in the tournament's history? That wouldn't have been the best way for him to go out.