LOS ANGELES -- Clayton Kershaw silenced the San Francisco Giants once again Thursday night, pitching the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 2-1 victory in front of 32,526 at Dodger Stadium. Mostly, though, he silenced all debate.

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.

Has to be. Simply must be.

"I was thinking about that standing in center field in the eighth inning," the Dodgers' Matt Kemp said. "If this boy doesn't win the Cy Young, something is definitely wrong. No question about it."

Does that mean he will win it? Well, not necessarily. It is a rather complex electorate that decides these things, a selection of 32 members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America -- and more specifically, two members from each of the 16 National League cities. Several of those cities are along the Eastern seaboard, and several others are in the Midwest. That means that only the most insomnia-stricken among some of those writers have seen every Kershaw start.

Clayton Kershaw beat Tim Lincecum four times this season and had an ERA of 0.30 in those starts. Kirby Lee/Image of Sport/US Presswire

Still, with each one of those starts, Kershaw has become increasingly impossible to ignore, and it is beginning to seem inconceivable that anyone could overlook him. Not when he is tied for the league lead in victories, not when he blows away every other pitcher when it comes to blowing away hitters. Not when he has become a 20-game winner, Kershaw having been all of 2 years old the last time a Dodgers pitcher accomplished that. Not when he has beaten the Giants -- the defending World Series champion Giants, no less -- five times this season, something no Dodgers pitcher had done since Don Newcombe did it when the teams were crosstown rivals in 1951, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

And certainly not when he has now beaten Tim Lincecum, himself a two-time Cy Young Award winner, four times in four head-to-head matchups this season.

Lincecum's ERA in those four starts was 1.24. Kershaw's was 0.30. And that, as Robert Frost once wrote, has made all the difference, especially given that the Dodgers won those games by scores of 2-1, 1-0, 2-1 and 2-1.

"Seeing this guy pitch every five days, I know there are some good pitchers out there with great numbers doing some great things, but this guy, for me, has been the most consistent," said the Dodgers' Rod Barajas, who has been behind the plate for the vast majority of Kershaw's 32 starts. "He leads in every category, and you can't look past a guy who does that and pick somebody else.

"For me, this kid is the best pitcher in the National League."

Kershaw needed a little help this time. He appeared to run out of gas in the eighth inning, giving up a solo homer to light-hitting Giants catcher Chris Stewart and then a couple of walks, so he had to be rescued at the 115-pitch mark. Enter rookie reliever Kenley Jansen, who continued his absolute domination by striking out the next two batters, and rookie reliever Javy Guerra took care of the rest in the ninth, nailing down his 19th save.

A team effort. And that, Kershaw said, is the key to winning 20 games, something no Dodgers pitcher had done since Ramon Martinez in 1990.

"Pitching on the right day has a whole lot to do with it," Kershaw said. "These guys have picked me up time and time again. It's just a combination of things that go into winning 20 games, and a whole lot of people helping me out. That is why it's more of a team accomplishment than anything else."

And then, for really the first time all season, Kershaw allowed himself to actually address the issue of the Cy Young. Sort of.

"I will say this," he said, "if at the end of the season, I look back and if I am able to receive that, then it won't be taken lightly."

Lost in all the hoopla surrounding his 20th win was the fact that Kershaw's performance not only lifted the Dodgers (77-76) above the .500 mark for the first time since April 29, when they were 14-13, but also ended the Giants' eight-game winning streak and dealt a serious blow to what remained of their playoff hopes, leaving them 5½ games behind the division-leading Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL West and 4½ behind the Atlanta Braves for the wild card, this with eight games remaining on the Giants' schedule.

"Yeah, that's a shame," Kershaw said, deadpan.