Cy Young and MVP

Imagine for a moment if you will, that James Loney had hit in April and July as well as he hit in the rest of the four months; that the Dodgers acquired Juna Rivera in April rather than July to fill in in left field; that Rafael Furcal and Casey Blake had been healthy; and that Javy Guerra and Kenley Jansen were in thier roles in the bullpen at the beginning of the season, rather than just in the second half.

And imagine that Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw did EXACTLY the same thing as they have done in the real 2011 season.

The Dodgers would probably have won 5-10 more games this season, thus finding themselves in the 85-93 win range, right in the thick of the NL Wild Card race, and possibly the NL West division race.

And if those OTHER PLAYERS had played differently, and Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw did EXACTLY the same thing as they have done in the real 2011 season, would there be any question that Clayton Kershaw (now the all-but certain winner of the Pitcher's Triple Crown) would be the Cy Young winner and Matt Kemp (current leader in two prongs of the Triple Crown who is making the strongest run at a triple crown of any hitter in 44 years) would be the MVP winner.

Unless you can explain to me what Ryan Braun, Justin Upton, Roy Halladay, or Ian Kennedy could have done to make James Loney more productive, acquire Juan Rivera, heal Casey Blake and Rafael Furcal, and promote Javy Guerrra and Kenley Jansen, then it seems to me that Clayton Kershaw should still be the Cy Young and Matt Kemp should still be the MVP.