Clayton Kershaw had an amazing season in 2011 for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He won the pitching triple crown, leading the league in wins (21, tied with Ian Kennedy), strikeouts (248), and ERA (2.28), and also led the league in WHIP (0.977), too. For his efforts, Kershaw was named co-winner of the National League Cy Young Award by SB Nation.
Kershaw splits the award with Roy Halladay of the Philadelphia Phillies, who had a magnificent season in his own right. Halladay, who won the real Cy Young Award in 2010, came back in 2011 with a 19-6 record, a 2.35 ERA, and more than six times as many strikeouts as walks.
Kershaw got one more first place vote than did Halladay, but Halladay had two more second place votes. That straggler fifth place vote for Kershaw seems to be the culprit in Kershaw not winning this award all for himself. Here are the results:
| Rank | Name | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clayton Kershaw | 14 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 149 | |
| 1 | Roy Halladay | 13 | 13 | 2 | 149 | ||
| 3 | Cliff Lee | 4 | 21 | 2 | 83 | ||
| 4 | Ian Kennedy | 3 | 14 | 6 | 43 | ||
| 5 | Cole Hamels | 1 | 7 | 8 | 29 | ||
| 6 | Madison Bumgarner | 2 | 3 | 7 | |||
| 7 | Tim Lincecum | 1 | 4 | 6 | |||
| 8 | Matt Cain | 1 | 3 | 5 | |||
| 9 | Chris Carpenter | 1 | 2 | ||||
| 10 | Johnny Cueto | 1 | 1 | ||||
| 10 | Zack Greinke | 1 | 1 | ||||
| 10 | Craig Kimbrel | 1 | 1 |
Points were awarded as follows: seven points for a first place vote, four points per second place vote, three points per third place vote, two points per fourth place vote, and one point for every fifth place vote.
I had a ballot, and filled it out in this order: Kershaw, Halladay, Lee, Kennedy, Hamels.
The Baseball Writers Association of America will announce the real NL Cy Young winner on Thursday, November 17.