Anyone who has ever had the opportunity to speak with Dodger lefty and reigning Cy Young award winner Clayton Kershaw knows first-hand exactly how humble this 24-year-old really is – even after pounding the St. Louis Cardinals 6-0 for his first complete game of the season and the 4th shutout of his career. And even though he also hit his first-ever extra base hit, a double to deep left field that was misplayed by Cardinals left fielder Matt Holliday (something that he has a history of doing at Dodger Stadium), it was Dodger manager Don Mattingly whom garnered all of Kershaw’s praise. “Donny understands how hard it is to play, he cares about us, he understand what we can do physically and has a ton of confidence in us,” said Kershaw during a post-game interview.

In spite of his dominating performance over the Cardinals on Saturday night, Clayton Kershaw credits Dodger manager Don Mattingly for the team's incredible success this season.

Since Kershaw won’t acknowledge his total domination of the Cards on Saturday night, allow me to do so for him. Simply put, his curveball was flat out nasty and helped him get 4 strikeouts on the night while allowing only six hits and no walks. “In the first couple innings I started them off with the fastball and they showed that they were going to swing at it so I made an adjustment,” said Kershaw about his curveball. “They have a great hitting team, Beltran is on fire, obviously Holliday is a superstar. They’ve got a lot of guys, especially with Rafael (Furcal) swinging the bat the way he is,” added Kershaw.

When Mattingly was asked about Kershaw’s double, he jokingly said “…the swing’s getting a little long.”

Whatever it is that Mattingly is doing he is definitely doing it right and has the respect of all of his players – and vice versa; and when you have this, the sky is the limit.