Kershaw Takes NL Cy Young

By - Kris Fletcher

Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers won the NL Cy Young Award in a runaway vote on Thursday.

Photo by: Getty Images

He received twenty-seven of thirty-two first-place votes, five seconds and two thirds from the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Philadelphia's Roy Halladay, last year's winner, finished second. Phillies teammate Cliff Lee was third, followed by Arizona's Ian Kennedy.

Kershaw won the NL's pitching triple crown. He led the league with a 2.28 ERA and 248 strikeouts, and with a 21-5 record, tied Kennedy for the most wins.

The 23-year-old left-hander, whose previous high for victories was 13 in 2010, dominated the league during the final two months of the season, going 8-0 with a 0.96 ERA in his final nine starts.

His .207 opponents' batting average was the second-lowest in the major leagues, trailing only Detroit's Justin Verlander (.192). Kershaw was extremely effective at Dodger Stadium, where he went 12-1 with the lowest home ERA in the big leagues at 1.69.