Clayton Kershaw Wins National League Cy Young Award

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw has been named the 2011 NL Cy Young award winner. According to sportingnews.com, the lefty received 27 of the 32 first place votes by members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. "I'm extremely thankful and humbled by this award," he said. "The company that I'm in now...just tobe mentioned with some of those guys. I'm just in awe. I never thought I'd be here," Kershaw told sportingnews.com.

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw has been named the 2011 NL Cy Young award winner. According to sportingnews.com, the lefty received 27 of the 32 first place votes by members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. "I'm extremely thankful and humbled by this award," he said. "The company that I'm in now...just tobe mentioned with some of those guys. I'm just in awe. I never thought I'd be here," Kershaw told sportingnews.com.

That company of Dodgers pitchers to win the award include Eric Gagne in 2003 and Orel Hershiser in 1988. Kershaw had a record of 21-5 this season while leading the lead in ERA (2.28) and strikeouts (248). "Clayton represents everything good about this game and this award," said Dodgers manager Don Mattingly in a team statement. "He is a tremendous worker, a student of baseball and a great teammate. He's always trying to get better and deserves all the accolades that come his way," according to ESPN.com. 

The 23-year-old beat out last year's winner, Philadelphia's Roy Halladay. "I always dreamed about playing in the big leagues. I never dreamed about doing anything special in the big leagues. I don't think any kid ever does," Kershaw said. "The people I'm now associated with, just by having this award, is something that I never thought would ever happen," according to the Wall Street Journal. 

Kershaw was lights-out in the final two months of the season. He went 8-0 with a .96 ERA in that time. "He's just scratching the surface of what he can become and I know he can reach much higher limits," Oral Hershiser told the Wall Street Journal.

The success of the lefty has drawn comparisons to another great Dodger lefty, Sandy Koufax, but Kershaw doesn't agree. "I'm still uncomfortable with it," he said. "I don't want to have any disrespect for Mr. Koufax. He did it for a long time. He won a lot of awards and he won World Series. He threw no-hitters. Just a lot of things I'm not anywhere close to accomplishing yet. I have tremendous respect for him and would never want to ever put myself in the same category as him," he told the Wall Street Journal. 

According to Bloomberg.com, Kershaw is the youngest player to win the award since 20-year-old Dwight Gooden did it for the New York Mets in 1985.

Photo by Dirk Hansen.