Clayton Kershaw finishes second to R.A. Dickey in NL Cy Young voting

Clayton Kershaw fell well short of winning his second consecutive Cy Young Award on Wednesday as the Mets' R.A. Dickey was voted as the winner by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Dickey collected 27 of the 32 first-place votes. Kershaw garnered just two of those votes -- and two writers inexplicably left him off their ballots completely.

I'm surprised at Dickey's margin of victory, but he was definitely a worthy winner.

Dickey, who seemingly came out of nowhere to establish himself as an elite starting pitcher, ended the season with a 20-6 record, 2.73 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 8.9 K/9, 4.26 K/BB and a 3.27 FIP. He led the NL in innings pitched (233 2/3), complete games (five), shutouts (three) and strikeouts (233).

Kershaw's season was in doubt at one point, as he missed a start with a hip issue. I said he should have been shut down, but he came back and looked like the Kershaw of 2011, finishing his final three starts with a 3-0 record, a 0.86 ERA, .183 BAA and 23 strikeouts in 21 innings.

He led the majors in ERA (2.53) for the second straight season. He also led the majors in hits per nine innings (6.7). He was tops in the National League in WHIP (1.02) and fWAR (5.5).

This was also the fourth consecutive season Kershaw has averaged more than a strikeout per inning.

Gio Gonzalez was the only other true contender for the award. He finished third.

The award could have gone to any of the three and it'd be hard to argue otherwise.

Photo credit: Dustin Nosler, Feelin' Kinda Blue