For most people, the NL Cy Young race probably starts and ends with Roy Halladay in 2011. That’s fine: Halladay’s 2011 season is more or less a continuation of his excellent 2010 year that earned him the NL Cy in his first year in the Senior Circuit. In Los Angeles, though, Clayton Kershaw is quietly putting together the best year of his young career and if he played for a better team, it’s hard not to wonder if he’d be more involved in the conversation.
Last night, Kershaw picked up his 15th win of 2011 by shutting down the scorching hot Brewers, keeping them off of the scoreboard for eight innings, striking out six, and scattering five hits. Kershaw’s 15 wins tie him for the NL lead with Halladay, but of course we all know better than to measure pitcher value with a flawed stat like wins. The six Ks that Kershaw racked up last night give him 199 on the season, the most in the NL this year and on pace to better his career high (212, set last year) by quite a bit. Kershaw would be the first non-Tim Lincecum pitcher to lead the NL in strikeouts since 2007 (Jake Peavy) if he can hold on.
Kershaw didn’t walk any Brewers last night, and that probably represents the area he’s made the biggest strides in 2011. In the past, his control has been a bit of a problem, but this year he’s only issued 46 walks in 175 2/3 innings. That’s a walk rate of 2.4/9, much better than his previous career best of 3.6/9, set last year. He’s keeping the ball on the ground, too, with a groundball rate of 43.1% that’s the second best of his career, behind only his rookie season (when he only made 21 starts).
Most impressive of all, of course, is Kershaw’s age. He’s just 23 and he won’t be 24 until spring training 2012. He’s already approaching 700 strikeouts (last night’s start gives him 696 on his career). He’ll be just the 16th pitcher in big league history to record his 700th strikeout in his 23-year old season or earlier and he’d join Felix Hernandez as the only two pitchers to do it since Doc Gooden in the 1980s.
That means that even if Halladay keeps his grip on the Cy Young this year (and make no mistake, he should, because as good as Kershaw’s been, Halladay’s miniscule walk and home run rates mean that he’s been even better), Kershaw’s got a good chance to break the Halladay/Linecum vicegrip in the NL Cy Young that’s existed since the 2008 season.
Also last night: There wasn’t much action last night, especially with most of the division races slowly falling out of reach at this point. The Diamondbacks lost, but the Giants got shutout 1-0 by the Braves and couldn’t capitalize. The Angels sneaked out a win over the Rangers. The Indians did get a win over the White Sox to both put distance between them and the Sox and close the Tigers lead down to a game and a half. Full results for last night here.
Tonight’s action: The Tigers and Indians kick off a big weekend series in Detroit with Max Scherzer and Josh Tomlin on the mound tonight. Arizona heads to Atlanta to take on the Braves while the Giants head to Houston to play the Astros, so it’s possible the Giants can make up some ground this weekend. And, uh, that’s pretty much it. We’ve got a month for playoff races to develop, but right now most of them are headed in the wrong direction. Full schedule of games for tonight is here.
