Clayton Kershaw made quote an impression on Tuesday night...
- Tony Jackson of ESPN LA has one of 32 votes to decide the National League Cy Young Award, and his top choice is clear: "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."
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Tim Lincecum, sufferer of four losses at the hands of Kershaw, told Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News, "I did my job the best I could. He was just better. That's tough to say."
- Kershaw should get extra credit in the Cy Young Award for his answer to what he felt about the Dodgers hurting the Giants' playoff chances, per Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times: "It's a shame."
- Matt Kemp chimed in about Kershaw, per both Hernandez and Jackson. "It was special, man. Twenty-three years old, 20 wins. That's a great accomplishment. We knew what was at stake tonight," Kemp said. "I was thinking about that standing in center field in the eighth inning. If this boy doesn't win the Cy Young, something is definitely wrong. No question about it."
- "I'm in awe of him, honestly," Kershaw said of Kenley Jansen, per Hernandez. "Tonight, you saw his command. Beltran couldn't even get the bat off his shoulder because he couldn't do anything with those pitches. They were right on the black. When it's 96 [mph] and cutting halfway across the plate, it's pretty unbelievable."
- Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated and MLB Network on Tuesday night chimed in on the award on Twitter: "kershaw staked his claim to cy young tonite. the award should be his. hes been better than halladay, lee and kennedy." No word though on how Kershaw compared to Brad Penny.
- Gabe Lacques at USA Today's Daily Pitch thinks Kershaw will walk away with the award, saying, "Barring an unforeseen shellacking in his final start, the award will be Kershaw's."
- Dave Cameron and Eric Seidman had a discussion about the Cy Young Awards in both leagues, and the use of various statistical metrics.
- Mike Fast at Baseball Prospectus took a stab at quantifying catcher pitcher framing. In case you were wondering, Rod Barajas rates at five runs below average per 120 games caught. Fast on Twitter explained further, "I watched Barajas (who rates poorly) last night, he was doing head drop, and he lost a close strike.