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Dodgers clinch NL West title

LOS ANGELES — Hyun-Jin Ryu unleashed a full bottle of bubbly over the head of A.J. Ellis.

“It never gets old,” the catcher said. “I love how cold it is.”

The post-game party was in full swing shortly after the Los Angeles Dodgers won the NL West title with a 9-1 victory over the second-place San Francisco Giants on Wednesday night.

Clayton Kershaw wore a huge grin and a soaked championship T-shirt as he made his way around the saturated clubhouse, singled out for repeated soakings by his jubilant teammates.

The probable NL Cy Young Award winner and MVP candidate tied a career high with his 21st victory and lowered his major league-leading ERA to 1.77 in his last start of the regular season.

“You can’t take lightly what we did,” Kershaw said. “You got to celebrate accomplishments and that’s what we did. It’s really fun to celebrate with these guys.”

The left-hander allowed one run and eight hits in eight innings, struck out 11 and walked none, having won his final seven starts. He is trying to become the first player to lead the major leagues in ERA in four consecutive seasons.

“It’s been a magical year for Kershaw,” said teammate Carl Crawford, who was 2 for 2 with three runs scored and two RBIs.

Kershaw (21-3) didn’t pitch lights out — getting called for a balk and wild pitch — and he committed a throwing error in the seventh but he did a little bit of everything, including hitting and fielding to ensure the Dodgers celebrated in front of their longtime rivals.

“He probably wasn’t at his best, but him at 80 percent is pretty good,” Giants starter Tim Hudson said. “It’s better than most people.”

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