The date was July 31, 2013. It was an unusually cool night at Dodger Stadium – 67 degrees at game time. There was a buzz in the air – not because the Yankees were in town to play the Dodgers for the first time since 2010, but because the Dodgers were honoring future Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera, who was retiring at the end of the season. After a very touching tribute to Rivera on the video boards, the Dodgers presented the greatest closer of all time a beautiful saltwater fishing rod and reel. It was indeed a historic and memorable event for everyone present.

The video tribute to Yankee great Mariano Rivera was very well done.
(AP photo)

But that was not the only historic moment of the night.

In an injury-plagued season that he would rather forget, Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter was making only his fourth start of the season – a season in which he would end up playing only 17 games.

On the mound for the Dodgers was eventual 2013 NL Cy Young award winner Clayton Kershaw, thus putting two of the very best in the game in a head-to-head match-up.

It wasn’t fair, really. Jeter was still recovering from a broken left ankle that he suffered in the 2012 ALCS. And even though the 14-time All Star and five-time World Series champion was out there giving it his all, just as he always did, it was obvious that he was nowhere near 100%.

In his first at-bat in the top of the first inning Jeter grounded out to Dodgers third baseman Juan Uribe. In the top of the third Jeter would again ground out, this time to Dodgers second baseman Skip Schumaker. And in his final at-bat of the night against the Dodgers ace, Jeter lined out to Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez. Although nobody knew it at the time, this would be the final time that these two superstars would face each other. Jeter drew a walk in the ninth inning off of Dodgers right-hander Ronald Belisario but finished his night going 0 for 3 against Kershaw.

Don’t feel too bad for Jeter. The Yankees would go on to win the game by a score of 3-0, as Belisario gave up one earned run followed by two unearned runs off of left-hander Paco Rodriguez, thus ruining Kershaw’s eight-inning masterpiece in which he allowed no runs, five hits, no walks and struck out five.

But July 31, 2013 wasn’t the first time that these two gladiators squared off against one another. They had faced each other once before, again at Dodger Stadium. It was a game that still haunts Dodger fans even to this day.

The date was June 27, 2010 and in this, their first-ever meeting against one another, Jeter got the better of Kershaw. Jeter singled in the first inning, struck out in the third inning, and singled in the sixth inning. He would come around to score on an Alex Rodriguez (PED-assisted) home run. Kershaw left the game after a 1-2-3 seventh inning with a comfortable 5-2 lead with Jeter going 2 for 3 against him.

After Belisario pitched a scoreless top of the eighth, the Dodgers scored another run in the bottom of the inning on a Rafael Furcal double to give the Dodgers (and Kershaw) a 6-2 lead.

What could possibly go wrong?

In the bottom of the ninth (then) Dodgers manager Joe Torre handed the ball to Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton. With a four-run lead it wasn’t even a save situation. When the dust had settled, nine Yankee batters had come to the plate. Broxton had given up four runs on four hits, walked two (including an intentional walk to Jeter) and struck out one. He made a total of 48 pitches (29 for strikes). The Dodgers would go on to lose the game in the 10th inning on a two-run home run by Robinson Cano off of Dodgers right-hander Ramon Troncoso. Although the box score shows Troncoso as the losing pitcher, every Dodger fan around the world knew who cost Kershaw what should have been his 11th win of the season instead of a no-decision. Although Broxton was not officially charged with a blown save, it absolutely was. It was also the beginning of the end for the once surefire Dodger closer.

In their two meetings Jeter was 2 for 6 (.333) against Kershaw – both of which were singles. Kershaw struck Jeter out once and got him to ground out twice and line out once in his other three at-bats.

What was it like pitching to one of the greatest to ever play the game? Here what Kershaw told YES Network’s Matthew Stucko during a July 12, 2014 interview:

This past season, Jeter’s 20th and final season, the Dodgers did not face the Yankees. However, one day while in the Dodgers clubhouse I mentioned to Kershaw that I had taken a photograph of him pitching to Jeter when the two teams had met in 2013 and asked him if he would like a copy of that photograph. His answer was exactly what you might expect from the 26-year-old soon-to-be three-time Cy Young award winning and possible 2014 NL MVP.

“Yes I would. I would really like that, thanks.” It was in his hand the next day.

This is the photo that I took of Kershaw pitching to Jeter on July 31, 2013. Kershaw didn’t want it because he was in it, he wanted it because one of the most respected players in the history of the game was in it. (Click on photo to enlarge)

As every Dodger fan knows, Kershaw and Jeter should have faced each other one more time in their respective careers – during the 2014 All Star Game at Target Field in Minnesota. But Cardinals (and the National League) manager Mike Matheny picked his favorite son Adam Wainwright to start the 85th summer classic over the statistically better and more deserving Clayton Kershaw. Jeter led off the bottom of the first inning with a laser shot double into the right field corner off of Wainwright, who later admitted that he gave Jeter “a couple pipe shots.”

“I just thought he deserved it,” Wainwright told reporters after coming out of the game. “I didn’t know he was going to hit a double or I was going to change my mind. I thought he was going to hit something hard to the right side for a single or an out. I probably should have pitched him a little better.”

Although Kershaw relieved Wainwright in the bottom of the second inning in which he retired the side in order with one strike out, he never got the opportunity to face Jeter. But even if he had, do you honestly think that Kershaw would have given Jeter “a couple pipe shots?”

Me either.