Has anyone else noticed Kenley Jansen isn’t exactly the dominant pitcher we thought we were getting when he signed that mega-money contract?
He’s barely pretty good, and frankly, he worries me when he takes the mound with a slim lead.
Bonus: Let’s look at the Jackie Robinson Night fan jersey.
Oscar Martinez
I was born in the shadow of Dodger Stadium and immediately drenched in Dodger Blue. Chavez Ravine is my baseball cathedral, Vin Scully was the golden voice of summer all my life, and Tommy Lasorda remains the greatest Dodgers manager ever. My favorite things are coffee, beer, and the Dodgers beating the Giants. I also blog about my baseball card hobby at All Trade Bait, All the Time.
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A terrific pitching duel. Buehler was dealing aces today…. although the Reds’ “Mendoza” lineup was a big help. No earned runs! 6.1 innings, 8 K’s. I always liked Sonny Gray. He had the Dodger hitters checking the wind resistance of their bats. Gray was on the market in 2016 from OAK, about the time the Dodgers picked up Rich Hill from OAK. I guess the Dodgers feared his shoulder issues. Gray eventually went to NYY. I think he would have been a great pickup. Both offenses had problems today, but Dodgers prevailed in the end. Other than the error by Kiké, Jansen looked OK…. gave up one unearned run. I’m still worried when he comes in, though.
Good to see Bellinger back in the lineup…. quite a scare. Good thing he is young, and a fast healer. JT made a PH appearance, so that was encouraging, as well.
Pollock hopefully out of his rut. Nice 3-run jack, following Belli’s intentional walk. A big backfire on the Reds.
Time for a bit of redemption in Milwaukee.
I was at the game today. Buehler was locked in a duel with Gray until the 6th. With Barnes aboard they walked Bellinger after Barnes stole second and Buehler and Pederson struck out. Pollock came up and made Gray pay with a shot to left center. Buehler tired after getting 1 out in the 7th and Alexander and Baez got out of the jam with only 1 run scored on a Kemp single. Jansen should have had a clean inning in the 9th but, Kike made an error allowing Puig to be on base. Barnes then threw the ball into center field on a strikeout with Puig running and Puig went to third. With 1 out there was a fly to center and Puig scored for the second time in the game. Then Jansen induced a pop out that Barnes caught falling down redeeming himself for his error. As for Jansen, he has 5 saves and a win. That means he has been directly involved in half of the Dodger wins. He has been one of the few bright spots in the pen, so no, I am not nervous when he takes the ball. He is already better than he was at this point in time last year.
Good point Michael. Jansen is not lights out and I think we need more than Mr Kelly, but last year Jansen was worse. So there’s that.
Nevertheless we need more BP help. Let’s get rid of the riff raff and let our AA and AAA kids pitch up here once in a while.