Dodgers Season Opens With Tommy Lasorda And A Clayton Kershaw Fastball

LOS ANGELES, CA — Clayton Kershaw threw a 93.6 mph four-seam fastball that Manuel Margot took for a strike as the Dodgers began their 60th season in Los Angeles Monday against the San Diego Padres at a sold-out Dodger Stadium.

Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda and former Dodger outfielder Wally Moon -- on his 87th birthday -- threw ceremonial first pitches.

Lasorda's first pitch came four days before the 40th anniversary of his first opening day as the team's manager, a 5-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants on April 7, 1977, at Dodger Stadium. His friend Frank Sinatra sang the national anthem and Gary Thomasson hit a home run off future Hall of Famer Don Sutton on the game's first pitch that day.

Moon played for the Dodgers from 1959-65 and is best remembered for his penchant for hitting home runs, dubbed "Moon shots" over the 42-foot screen in left field at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, where the team played through 1961.

Brett Young sang the national anthem, one day after losing out to Jon Pardi for new male vocalist of the year at the Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas. Young was raised in Orange County and pitched for Calvary Chapel High School, Mississippi, Irvine Valley College and Fresno State.

Kershaw made his seventh consecutive opening day start for the Dodgers. Right-hander Jhoulys Chacin made his debut with San Diego after splitting last season between the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Angels.

City News Service; Photo: Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw throws a pitch against the San Diego Padres during the first inning of a baseball game, Monday, April 3, 2017, in Los Angeles. (Ryan Kang/Associated Press)