Clayton Kershaw

Tuesday afternoon, Los Angeles Dodgers’ starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw was kind enough to take part in a live chat event at 1:00 pm Pacific Time on MLB.com.

For 39 minutes, the native of Dallas, Texas answered questions from fans that were logged into a chat room.

Clayton is in his second season with the Blue Crew. Drafted in 2006 by the Dodgers at only 21-years of age, Kershaw was the Gatorade National Baseball Player of the Year at Highland Park High School in Texas.

A true Dodgers fan understands the meaning of the upcoming interleague series against the team's cross-town American League rival. These Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim—so called for marketing reasons—are not true rivals in our book. 

The Dodgers and Angels cannot go back in history and recall any turbulent battles between the two teams. Each organization does have its history of great players, though they never met in a meaningful game—let alone the World Series.

Clayton Kershaw was wild on Sunday. At times, he struggled with his control and had thrown over 100 pitches by the eight inning. Yet, after seven innings, he still had not allowed a hit.

While not having the best contro,l Kershaw still pitched an effective game. So effective that many at LandShark Stadium were preparing to witness history.

First of all, calm yourselves. I am in no way speaking of Hall of Famer Vin Scully. 

Instead, while Vin was enjoying the last day of a week long vacation while the team was on the road in the East, new Dodger broadcaster Eric Collins and commentator Steve Lyons (pictured above) provided the play-by-play of today’s Dodgers/Marlins game on Channel 9 in Los Angeles.

Sunday, Dodger manager Joe Torre sent Clayton Kershaw to the mound to face the Fish.

For seven innings, Kershaw allowed no hits.

1. Los Angeles Dodgers (17-8, Last Week: No. 2)

The Dodgers are the hottest team in the league right now. Hands down. I had a hard time picking between them and the Blue Jays for the top spot. Having a 17-8 record (tied for best in the majors), and winning seven of their last ten games. How can you not put them at No. 1? Oh! and they got Manny!

2. Toronto Blue Jays (17-9, Last Week: No. 4)

For years, the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers have had the biggest rivalry in baseball that doesn’t include the term “Red Sox vs. Yankees,”  with every game just as heated as the one on the east coast.

However, as both teams have struggled and as players have gone from team to team in the National League West, the rivalry has cooled in recent years.

The thing that had the battle going when both teams moved west was that almost all the players on each roster were homegrown and were taught to hate each other.