June 14th, 2014 at 6:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka Back in 1987 there was a popular country music group named Desert Rose Band who had a smash hit titled ‘One step forward and two steps back.’
If ever there were a song that described the year that Dodgers reliever Brian Wilson is having, this would be it.
After a remarkable finish to the 2013 season, the Dodgers re-signed Wilson to a one-year/$10 million contract which, at the time, seemed like a steal. Unfortunately for the Dodgers (but brilliant on the part of Wilson and his agent), it also included an $8.5 million player option for 2015 which basically means that if Wilson stinks the place up and the Dodgers designated him for assignment, he will simply exercise his option and get paid the $8.5 million anyways.
Dodger fans who say they aren’t nervous whenever Brian Wilson enters a game are lying.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)
It’s safe to say that Wilson is stinking the place up and we’re not even through the guaranteed first year of the contract. It’s even safer to say that no matter how poorly Wilson does, he will exercise his option, thus guaranteeing him the additional $8.5 million. Who wouldn’t?
But perhaps the safest thing to say is that no matter how poorly Wilson does, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly will keep sending him out there – even if it costs the Dodgers games. Why? Because Wilson has a propensity to take one step forward and two steps back. In other words, he will have one even several good outings and then he will regress and completely fall apart – just as he did yet again on Friday night at Dodger Stadium.
After a brilliant seven-inning performance by Clayton Kershaw in which he allowed only one run on eight hits with one walk and seven strikeouts, Wilson was brought in to pitch the eighth inning with the Dodgers leading the Diamondbacks 3-1. Wilson promptly allowed back-to-back singles to Aaron Hill and Martin Prado. He then got Cody Ross to fly out to center field but not deep enough to advance Hill, but that didn’t matter because the next batter, Tuffy Gosewisch, followed with a single to center scoring Hill anyway.
Thankfully, Mattingly had seen enough and yanked Wilson with one out and runners on first and second and brought in left-hander J.P. Howell. As he so often does, Howell pitched brilliantly, striking out David Peralta and getting pinch-hitter Miguel Montero to fly out to deep left/center field with Andre Ethier making an outstanding catch deep in the gap to end the inning. Howell’s outstanding performance quite possibly prevented Wilson from blowing a safe and suffering another loss while preserving the win for Kershaw.
Wilson’s inability to keep the Dbacks off the board is nothing new. In the 27 games in which he has appeared, Wilson is 0-2 with a team-worst 6.14 ERA. He has allowed 15 earned runs (tops among all Dodger relievers), 28 hits (second only to Brandon League), has walked 17 (one less that Chris Withrow) and has struck out 27 in 22 innings pitched. But where Wilson is at his worst is his WHIP, which is a horrible 2.05 – worst on the team.
If there is any consolation for Dodger fans it’s that Mattingly said during Friday night’s post-game interview that he may give some consideration to utilizing J.P. Howell as the eighth-inning set-up man for Kenley Jansen instead of Wilson, who has pretty much had that role for the past month or so.
“We’ll look at everything and talk about it,” said Mattingly – which is about as much of a commitment as you will ever get from him.
In the meantime, Dodger fans will simply have to live with the anxiety that they feel every time that bullpen gate swings open and number 00 enters the game, causing fans to hear the words to that Desert Rose Band song in the back of their heads…
“One step forward and two steps back, nobody gets too far like that.”
Posted in 
Great win last night! There’s so much to talk about… so lets talk Brian Wilson.
In my opinion it’s, “16 steps forward and four steps back.” If we looked closer at the stats, you’ll find that Brian Wilson has been one of the Dodgers most consistent relievers during his past 20 games where he hasn’t allowed any runs during 16 of those 20 games.
Pushing the eject button when Wilson is on such a great run right now isn’t solving the bigger issue: holding the late lead, which is exactly what the team did last night. The Dodgers could use more late-inning wins, and Brian Wilson has been doing his job during this span, especially after a very rocky start to his season.
So what we end up with last night is Wilson giving up a run that didn’t cost the Dodgers a win. One can also point out that if Dee Gordon makes that play last night, Wilson is then, more than likely, out of the inning without allowing a run. Wilson’s making progress… and what more could we ask of him? Be perfect all the time? Even Jansen gave up a run last night, but the team won.
Wilson is very inconsistent, It seems to me that it goes from pitch to pitch. You never know what to expect with each pitch. I don’t know if it’s just that we had become use to him coming in and getting out of the inning very quickly, like he use to or he’s just living now pitch to pitch. Sometimes he looks like his old self and then all of a sudden he’s in trouble.
I hated him as a Giant and loved him last year as a Dodger. This year he frustrates me, but I’m not prepared to give up on him just yet.
I certainly hope he rights the ship as he will be run out there regardless of how he is doing. As noted $10M will do that.
I had my reservations last year as his success and the enthusiasm that followed it was based on 13.2 innings. I found it a bit difficult to see how that earned him $18.5M guaranteed. The player option was just poor business by the Dodgers based on such a small number of innings pitched.
It might well be he is just like many pitchers that for whatever reason find consistency difficult. It doesn’t take much to throw a pitcher off his game. My agreement with 53 was that I would acknowledge I was wrong about Wilson if he continued to shine. I am hoping I have to make that confession as the team will be better with a successful Wilson.