Clayton Kershaw is 23 years old and can add a Cy Young to his mantle. The young lefty from Texas proved to be the best pitcher in the NL this year and the BBWAA awarded him with the highest honor a pitcher can hope for in today’s baseball (let’s be honest, no pitcher hopes to win an MVP). Kershaw lead the league in Wins, ERA, strikeouts, WHIP and hits/9. But, Kershaw did anything but be the Justin Verlander of the National League this year. He, Roy Halladay, and Cliff Lee were separated by .12 ERA points or about 3 runs over the course of the entire season. Halladay, Lee and Kershaw were seperated by just 20 strikeouts over the course of the season, or about .6 more strikeouts per start. So why’d the Los Angeles Dodger win the title this year with 27 of the 32 first place votes? We at Off The Bench predicted that Roy Halladay would be your repeat Cy Young winner this season but, remember in our 30 Teams in 30 Days, we said that Clayton Kershaw would start the NL All Star game. Big things were expected from the lanky lefty with the old school mechanics. He really didn’t disappoint. Starting with his start on July 7th, 
Clayton threw 110.2 innings and gave up 15 earned runs. Good for a 1.21 ERA. Read that again. 1.21 ERA over half the year. In that stretch of 15 starts, he threw 8 innings or more 7 times while striking out 110 batters. These are just silly numbers.
Another factor in voters minds has to be the boredom surrounding Roy Halladay. He’s finished in the top 5 in the Cy Young each of the past 5 years and who really wants to give an award to someone like that? Remember Mike Mussina finishing in the top 6 in Cy Young 9 times and never winning? No? Me either but, it adds an interesting note. Halladay is perennially one of the game’s best but, writers get tired of the same story and are honestly out of superlatives for Mr. Roy.
Kershaw is in line to make a big raise on his $550,000 pay check from this year and seems poised to have an enormous 2012 season. I’m buying high on the lefty as I think he’ll go home with a few more of these Cy Young awards.
Stat of the Day: Nolan Ryan never won a Cy Young award.
Stat of the Day Part 2: US debt has reached $15 trillion.
-Sean Morash
