Clayton Kershaw: A No-No for the Young Prince

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— Dodgers Nation (@DodgersNation) June 19, 2014

I was running Wednesday night with my crew and my phone died. So when I changed batteries afterwards, I got all the updates from ESPN. "Clayton Kershaw has retired the first 15 batters......Clayton Kershaw has retired the first 18 batters."

Naturally, I turned on the game on the radio. All I heard was the roar of Dodger Stadium and silence from Charley Steiner and Rick Monday. I started swelling up with hope and then all a sudden, Steiner started saying Kershaw was being embraced by his teammates as he threw the 12th no-hitter in L.A. Dodgers history.

All I could do was smile. A month ago, he had perhaps the worst game of his career as he was chased in the first inning. Now the Young Prince had the game of his life and it was even more special knowing we've been blessed to see such a wonderful talent grow and blossom into the best pitcher in baseball.

Dodgers are NL West Champs (And Everybody's Celebrating)

I remember watching the Dodgers this spring and thinking this year was going to be terrible. But you want to know the moment when I first had hope they could turn it around? June 7 against the Braves when they were still meandering in last place.

I was there with my church during the humble beginnings of the Yasiel Puig era. Puig hit a game-tying home run while I was at the concession stands and despite leaving guys on base, the team won in extra innings for their first walkoff of the season. The season was still bleak but I had hope that Puig was going to be some kind of spark.

Fast forward three months later. The Dodgers clinched the division and they're celebrating in the Arizona Diamondbacks pool like kids. Don Mattingly held back tears talking about how great this team was and how resilient they were. Hanley Ramirez finally gets to taste the postseason and played like he wanted it going 4-4 with two home runs.

And in true Dodger fashion, AJ Ellis provided the surprising biggest blow with the go-ahead home run. I listened on the radio and could only smile.

Hail to the Prince (A Reminder Clayton Kershaw is from Planet Koufax)

Max Scherzer might be killing it in Detroit with his arm but right now, there's nobody I would take over Clayton Kershaw. What he did today with the Marlins was remarkable in being dominant without having his best stuff early.

Kershaw By the Numbers After Win No. 13

8 - the number of scoreless innings he threw today. The 7th time he's done that (8 IP, 0 runs) in 2013. It's also the number of RBI's he has this year. He helped his own cause singling home the first run of the game.

1.72 - His Major-league leading Earned Run Average for the season. The last time a NL pitcher had it that low? Greg Maddux in 1995 (1.63). The last time anybody was close? Pedro Martinez in 2000 (1.74)

The Young Prince Cooketh!!!

Nothing like coming home back to Cali and seeing Clayton Kershaw do this to the Washington Nationals. The same day I find out that Zach Greinke will be back ahead of schedule to pitch tomorrow, the best pitcher in the National League goes lights out to boost the team's momentum.

The Young Prince (4-2) had 6 strikeouts in a row at one point and even scored a run on Andre Ethier's double after being hit by a pitch. As I said after his Opening Day shutout, the only pitcher better than Kershaw is Justin Verlander.

Oh, and he's now your major league leader in ERA (1.40). This is the best he's pitched to start the season and as Jon Weisman points out, it could be scarier in the second half when he's usually lights out.

After going 0-for-8 to start May, the Dodgers have won 3 of 4 and at least for one night, they've postponed me writing about how this season has been a disappointment. And props to Don Mattingly going to Kenley Jansen to finish the game instead of Brandon League, who's been inconsistent lately.

Kershaw's Court: Hail the Young Prince

I've slowly been getting into a baseball groove since my March was consumed by the Lakers and March Madness. I used to get hyped for Opening Day and it didn't hit me until Saturday when one of my NABJ colleagues came down for the weekend since he was hoping to see his Giants beat my Dodgers to kick off 2013.

Well Opening Day came and went while I was at work and during a break, I saw that Clayton Kershaw not only threw a 4-hit masterpiece with 94 pitches, but even helped his own cause with a 414-foot bomb to centerfield to break a 0-0 tie. My friend told me he couldn't believe that ball was going over the fence until it finally landed.

The last Dodgers pitcher to throw an Opening Day shutout? Fernando Valenzuela in that magical 1981 season. The last pitcher to throw a shutout and hitting a home run? Bob Lemon in 1953. The fact that it was against the hated Giants made it even better.