Dodgers duo having banner seasons

[DodgerKing]

Clayton Kershaw silences the debate

LOS ANGELES -- Clayton Kershaw silenced the San Francisco Giants once again Thursday night, pitching the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 2-1 victory in front of 32,526 at Dodger Stadium. Mostly, though, he silenced all debate.Let there be no further argument, because the issue has been decided: Kershaw -- the Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander who has morphed over the past year from an occasionally erratic ace-in-waiting to a guy whose future most definitely is now -- should be the 2011 National League Cy Young Award winner.

Has to be. Simply must be.

"I was thinking about that standing in center field in the eighth inning," the Dodgers' Matt Kemp said. "If this boy doesn't win the Cy Young, something is definitely wrong. No question about it."

Does that mean he will win it? Well, not necessarily. It is a rather complex electorate that decides these things, a selection of 32 members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America -- and more specifically, two members from each of the 16 National League cities. Several of those cities are along the Eastern seaboard, and several others are in the Midwest. That means that only the most insomnia-stricken among some of those writers have seen every Kershaw start.




Still, with each one of those starts, Kershaw has become increasingly impossible to ignore, and it is beginning to seem inconceivable that anyone could overlook him. Not when he is tied for the league lead in victories, not when he blows away every other pitcher when it comes to blowing away hitters. Not when he has become a 20-game winner, Kershaw having been all of 2 years old the last time a Dodgers pitcher accomplished that. Not when he has beaten the Giants -- the defending World Series champion Giants, no less -- five times this season, something no Dodgers pitcher had done since Don Newcombe did it when the teams were crosstown rivals in 1951, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

And certainly not when he has now beaten Tim Lincecum, himself a two-time Cy Young Award winner, four times in four head-to-head matchups this season.

Lincecum's ERA in those four starts was 1.24. Kershaw's was 0.30. And that, as Robert Frost once wrote, has made all the difference, especially given that the Dodgers won those games by scores of 2-1, 1-0, 2-1 and 2-1.

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/mlb/...gers-clayton-kershaw-silences-cy-young-debate

 

[DodgerKing]

Kemp adds to MVP cause in Dodgers' victory



LOS ANGELES -- The chants of "M-V-P" that have echoed throughout Dodger Stadium for the last month or so got undeniably louder Thursday night.

In the Dodgers' final home game of 2011, an 8-2 victory over San Francisco, Matt Kemp continued what he's done throughout his electrifying season, as he notched a career-high three doubles, belted a long two-run homer and made a sprawling play in center field.

Really, it was nothing new.

The Dodgers' five-tool center fielder not only continued to cement his name at the forefront of the MVP discussion, but he gave himself an outside shot at a 40-40 season and even the Triple Crown. Kemp leads the National League in RBIs, trails the Cardinals' Albert Pujols by one home run and sits third in the batting race, just four points behind Milwaukee's Ryan Braun.

No one has accomplished the feat since Boston's Carl Yastrzemski did so in 1967, and while Kemp's opportunity is still an outside shot, at the rate he's hit in the last week, it doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility.

"Pretty unbelievable," Kemp said of the atmosphere Thursday at Chavez Ravine. "I felt it tonight."

But Triple Crowns, MVPs and 40-40 seasons aren't going to be on Kemp's mind in the season's final week, when the Dodgers head to San Diego and then Arizona.

"Six more games, I'm not going to put any more pressure on myself," said Kemp, who noted he was inspired by his mother sitting in the front row behind the on-deck circle. "I'm just going to hit the ball hard and we'll see where it goes."

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