Kershaw’s talent something to marvel

When Clayton Kershaw takes the mound Saturday night against the Braves at Dodger Stadium, we will be watching someone who appears to be one of the greatest pitchers of all time. Isn’t that where he has taken the conversation?

Comparisons are tricky, especially for players from different eras. For one thing, we don’t want to let them distract us from the pure pleasure of watching Kershaw do his thing.

He’s a reminder that great pitching is an art form. It’s power and precision, finesse and grit. Very few have done it better than this 28-year-old left-hander.

Kershaw is the youngest pitcher in history to win three Cy Young Awards, and he could be on track for a fourth in 2016. If so, he’d be just the fifth pitcher to win that many and would be doing it at a younger age than any of the others were at the time of their fourth — Roger Clemens (35), Randy Johnson (38), Steve Carlton (37) and Greg Maddux (29).

Even more impressive is that Kershaw could be headed for a second National League Most Valuable Player Award to make him the first pitcher in 71 years — and the fourth in history — to win two. (The three pitchers to win multiple MVP Awards are Carl Hubbell (1933-36), Hal Newhouser (’44-45) and Walter Johnson (’13-24). All are in the Hall of Fame.)

Plenty of longtime baseball writers are reluctant to cast an MVP vote for a pitcher. They reason that pitchers have their own award — the Cy Young Award, which was first given in 1956 and was then expanded to both leagues in ’67.

Also, a pitcher taking the mound 33 times can’t possibly have the impact of an everyday player going out there 150-plus times. That is, unless the impact in those 33 games is overwhelming.

The Dodgers are 10-1 in Kershaw’s starts, 18-26 with anyone else starting. Kershaw leads the NL in strikeouts, innings, WHIP and WAR. His 21.0 strikeout-to-walk …

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