Clayton Kershaw dominates Giants as Dodgers clinch the National League West title - MLB

Los Angeles has secured the 2014 NL West crown.

Clayton Kershaw struck out 11 batters and walked none over eight innings of one-run ball and Yasiel Puig slugged his 16th home run of the year as the Dodgers beat the visiting Giants 9-1 on Wednesday night to clinch their second consecutive division title.

Kershaw was brilliant, throwing 83 of his season-high 117 pitches for strikes and also contributing an RBI triple in the bottom of the fifth. He finishes the 2014 regular season at 21-3 with a 1.77 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, and 239/31 K/BB ratio in 198 1/3 innings. “M-V-P” chants rang out from the sold-out Dodger Stadium crowd when the ace left-hander recorded the final out of the eighth with a strikeout of Pablo Sandoval.

The team that faces these Dodgers in the NLDS will have to take on Kershaw twice. That is daunting.

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LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers will retire the No. 34 jersey of pitcher Fernando Valenzuela during a three-day celebration this summer.

Valenzuela was part of two World Series champion teams, winning the 1981 Rookie of the Year and Cy Young awards. He was a six-time All-Star during his 11 seasons in Los Angeles from 1980-90.

He will be honored from Aug. 11-13 when the Dodgers host Colorado.

Valenzuela will join Pee Wee Reese, Tommy Lasorda, Duke Snider, Gil Hodges, Jim Gilliam, Don Sutton, Walter Alston, Sandy Koufax, Roy Campanella, Jackie Robinson and Don Drysdale with retired numbers.

“To be a part of the group that includes so many legends is a great honor,” Valenzuela said. “But also for the fans, the support they’ve given me as a player and working for the Dodgers, this is also for them.”