Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw Wins NL Cy Young Award

(NewsCore) - Los Angeles Dodgers lefty Clayton Kershaw won the National League Cy Young Thursday, becoming the youngest winner of the award since Dwight Gooden won at age 20 in 1985.

The 23-year-old received 27 of the 32 first place votes from members of the Baseball Writers Association of America, with Philadelphia's Roy Halladay finishing second with four first place votes and his Phillies teammate Cliff Lee in third.

Arizona's Ian Kennedy received one first place vote to finish fourth, while yet another Phillies pitcher, lefty Cole Hamels, took fifth.

Kershaw, along with Detroit's Justin Verlander in the American League, won the NL Triple Crown of pitching in 2011.

The pitching Triple Crown has been completed 13 times since the Cy Young Award was created, and each time that pitcher has taken home the trophy.

Kershaw tied Kennedy for the NL lead in wins with 21, while topping the majors in ERA at 2.28 and leading the NL in strikeouts with 248.

Kershaw's 2.28 ERA is the lowest of any Cy Young winner since Pedro Martinez in 1997 (1.90).

Kershaw won four starts this season against two-time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum, never allowing more than a run in any of the outings.

The Dallas native, who this season won his first Gold Glove and was named to his first All-Star team, is the eighth different Dodger to win the Cy Young. The last was closer Eric Gagne in 2003.

Halladay, who won his second Cy Young award last season, was his usual dominant self in 2011, going 19-6 with a 2.35 ERA. He struck out 220 hitters while issuing only 35 walks.

In his return to Philadelphia, Lee went 17-8 with a 2.40 ERA, and hurled a major league-high six shutouts.

The 26-year-old Kennedy had a breakout season for the surprise NL West champion Diamondbacks, going 21-4 with a 2.88 ERA.

Hamels finished fifth in the voting after a 14-win season. It was the first time that three teammates finished in the top five in the balloting since 2005, when Houston's Roger Clemens, Roy Oswalt and Billy Wagner accomplished the feat.