Although Dodger manager Don Mattingly never came right out and said it, there is little doubt that he had lost some confidence in struggling right-hander Brandon League. In fact, just prior to the All-Star break Mattingly said that he would only use his former closer in non-pressure situations – games in which the Dodgers either led or trailed by a wide margin. And though there is little doubt that this was truly Mattingly’s intentions, it quickly became one of those ‘best-laid plans of mice and men’ things because the Dodgers didn’t have too many of those wide margin games. Instead, the Dodgers found themselves in several extra inning games and several close games in which Mattingly was forced to bring League into because he had used up his bullpen or had used multiple guys on multiple days.

To his credit Mattingly refused to give up on League and was quick to point out that the Dodgers would need Brandon during the stretch run. Whether Mattingly said this because the Dodgers are strapped to League’s ludicrous 3-year/$22.5 million contract is something that we may never know, but it probably had more to do with Mattingly’s assessment of League when the Dodgers picked him up at last year’s trade deadline.

“Brandon League is filthy,” said Mattingly repeatedly during his pre and post-game interviews with the media late last season.

League himself also refused to give up, this in spite of the painful booing that he received during his struggles in front of the home crowd at Dodger Stadium. He instead continued to work hard with Dodger pitching coach Rick Honeycutt and even more so bullpen coach Chuck Crim – and work with them a lot. The results of that hard work are now paying off big time for the 30-year-old Sacramento native.

League has been working very hard to get back to the pitcher that he was late last season. (Photo credit – Brad Mills).

During this past week, Mattingly brought League into three games in which the Dodgers were either trailing or tied, not as a closer but in situations where he needed to keep the team close and in a position to win – not exactly the definition of a low-pressure situation. In two of these games League was called upon to pitch two innings and he ended up getting the win in all three games. Now granted, this had a great deal to do with the Dodgers potent never-say-die offense, but in these three games League did not allow a run and allowed only one hit and one walk.

“In his last four (outings), even the outing here where he gave up the homer, he bounced right out of that and gets three straight outs and every outing he’s been good,” said Mattingly prior to Sunday afternoon’s game. “He’s worked hard and taken a little time, kind of like we wanted, to be able to slowly get him back to being what he was last year. It definitely seems like his confidence is up and our confidence obviously. He’s getting outs and we’ll be able to put him in games,” added Mattingly.

Sure enough, Mattingly brought League into Sunday’s scoreless game in the top of the 10th inning, having already used Ronald Belisario, Paco Rodriguez, and Kenley Jansen. In that inning, League got Reds third baseman Todd Frazier to ground out but then walked former Dodger Xavier Paul, who was pinch hitting for shortstop Zack Cozart. While this undoubtedly caused some Dodger fans to squirm in their seats, it was clear that League had been extremely careful with Paul, who had homered off Dodger starter Zack Greinke in game one of the four game series. League then got Reds catcher Devin Mesoraco to ground into a huge 5-4-3 double play to end the inning.

League came back out to pitch the top of the 11th inning and induced three ground outs that included a comebacker and back-to-back web gem plays by shortstop Hanley Ramirez and second baseman Mark Ellis. League picked up his third win in his last three appearances on Yasiel Puig’s dramatic walk-off home run in the bottom of the inning.

“(Brandon) has been working really hard,” said starter Chris Capuano after the game. “His location and his stuff looks great right now and it has in his last few outings. He’s just such a great teammate and a great guy and it’s nice to see him have success like that.”

“The biggest thing of anything is Brandon for us,” said Mattingly during Sunday’s post-game interview. “Brandon has kind of gotten on a roll and pitching with some confidence. Getting him back has given us another arm that you start to feel more confidence in and that’s really nice.”

With the win League is now 6-3 on the season and lowered his ERA to 5.17 – not great, but he’s headed in the right direction.