The Hart PONY 10-and-under baseball team begins play in the Mustang World Series today in Irving, Texas .

The Hart Mustang team plays a team from Joliet, Ill., in the first game of the World Series. There are eight teams in the tournament, six from the United States , one from Mexico and one from Puerto Rico .

The Hart team earned a berth in the Mustang World Series by winning the West Zone championship in Chino Hills over the weekend. The Hart team is 32-1 and has outscored its opponents 402-67.

Hart will play Keller , Texas , on Thursday and Los Mochis from Mexico on Friday before the championship rounds on Saturday.

Don’t miss a thing. Get breaking news alerts delivered right to your inbox

In swimming, Kearsten Livingstone, swimming for Canyons Aquatics Club, finished with the 108th fastest time in the 200-meter backstroke on the first day of the Conoco Phillips National Championships in Irvine . The Canyon High graduate posted a time of 1:03.71. Chris Magnuson won the 200 backstroke final in 57.32 seconds.

Hart High grad Jordan Danny, swimming for the Rattler Swim Club, had the 75th fastest time in the 200-meter individual medley. The USC swimmer posted a time of 2:21.81 in preliminaries.

Ariana Kukors, the world record holder in the 200 IM, won the final in 2:10.54.

The National Championship swim meet continues today with five more events including the women’s 100-meter backstroke. Hart High graduate Chelsea Griffiths, swimming for Canyons Aquatics Club, will be in the 100 backstroke.

The Lakers will play the revamped Miami Heat on Christmas Day at Staples Center . The marquee games were announced by the NBA yesterday, with the Lakers playing the Houston Rockets on opening night. Yao Ming, the Rockets all-star center, is expected to make his return to the league on opening night against the Lakers.

In the other opening night game, the LeBron James-led Heat will play the Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics.

The Dodgers put pitcher Jeff Weaver on the 15-day disabled and it looks like shortstop Rafael Furcal might be joining him before the week’s out. Weaver has tendonitis in his left knee. To replace Weaver on the roster, the Dodgers called up Ramon Troncoso.

Meanwhile, Furcal had an MRI on his lower back. He played only two innings in Monday night’s game against the Padres and did not start Tuesday night’s game. His status will be determined when the results of the MRI return.

Manny Ramirez took a step back in his rehab from a strained right calf. He was supposed to start a minor league rehab assignment this week, but that has been put off at least one more week as Ramirez recovers from the injury.

On the field, the Dodgers snapped a six-game losing streak and Ted Lilly won his Dodger debut, 2-1, over the first-place Padres.

Lilly went seven innings, giving up one run on two hits and striking out five.

Russell Martin drove in two runs in the second inning to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead.

Miguel Tejada hit a solo home run off of Lilly in the first inning to give the Padres a short-lived 1-0 lead.

The Dodgers and Padres continue their series tonight. The Dodgers will send Vicente Padilla to the mound against Wade LeBlanc for the Padres. Pregame starts at 6:30 on AM 1220, KHTS.