It would be irresponsible not to acknowledge the absolutely brilliant pitching performance by struggling Dodgers right-hander Dan Haren on Wednesday night. Not only was Haren very good, he was perfect for 5.1 innings and is now only one game away from becoming the fourth Dodger starter to have 10 wins this season. Haren’s performance on Wednesday also all but guaranteed that he will get another start in five days at a time when Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti is scrambling trying to find another back-of-the-rotation starting pitcher.

Haren retired the first 16 Angels hitters he faced on Wednesday night en route to his ninth win of the season. (Photo credit – Jon SooHoo)

But Haren’s wasn’t the only outstanding performance on Wednesday night. There were two phenomenal defensive plays in the game that are worthy of mention as well. Dee Gordon’s sliding stop deep in the hole at second base followed by a throw while he was sitting down to nail Hank Conger at first base in the third inning gives cause for why the 26-year-old second baseman’s name needs to be in the conversation for a Gold Glove. And then, of course, there was the throw by 23-year-old superstar outfielder Yasiel Puig to nail that very same Hank Conger going first-to-third on a hit and run single by David Freese in the sixth inning – a throw that only Puig could make and one that would have gone into second base from any other outfielder.

Puig’s throw to nail Angels catcher Hank Conger at third base in the sixth inning can only be described as impossible. (Video capture courtesy of SportsNetLA)

But there was another spectacular performance in Wednesday night’s game that, for the most part, went unnoticed by many Dodger fans and even by the media. It was the strike out of Mike Trout in the bottom of the ninth inning with no outs and the tying run on second base by Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen. Oh sure, any time a pitcher strikes out Trout in a potential game-tying or game-winning situation like this garners headlines, but what made this strikeout all the more impressive (not to mention extremely intense for Jansen) is that Jansen was behind in the count 3-0 and came back to strikeout arguably the best hitter in the game today.

Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen strikes out Mike Trout after falling behind 3-0 in Wednesday night’s exciting 2-1 win over the Angels. Jansen would go on to earn the save, his 32nd of the season.
(Photo credit – Jon SooHoo)

Of course striking out Mike Trout was only the beginning for Jansen, he still had to face Albert Pujols and then Josh Hamilton – two equally dangerous hitters. Jansen got Pujols to fly out to Puig in center field and got Hamilton to chase a perfectly thrown 96 MPH cut fastball that was up and out of the strike zone for the final out, thus securing the Dodgers 2-1 win.

This was, in every sense of the word, a true save and undoubtedly the toughest of the season for the 26-year-old hard-throwing Curacao native – if not the toughest save of his five-year MLB career.