Although the exact reason why Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen was unavailable for Wednesday night’s game remains a mystery (at least as of this writing), one thing is not – Dodgers manager Don Mattingly seriously mishandled the situation during his post-game interview immediately following his team’s painful come from ahead 7-6 loss to the last place Colorado Rockies on Wednesday night due to a complete meltdown by his bullpen that was reminiscent of the 2014 Dodgers bullpen.

In a situation that was textbook for the Dodgers skipper to bring in his star closer, not only did he not do so, but the extremely likable 27-year-old Curacao native was nowhere to be seen when all eyes were on the bullpen gate as the bottom of the ninth inning began. Radio broadcasters Rick Monday and Kevin Kennedy repeated commented that there was no valid reason for Mattingly not to bring Jansen in to preserve the Dodgers two-run lead since Jansen had thrown only 16 pitches the night before after having not pitched in a full week; no valid reason unless, of course, his star closer was injured or sick.

The mere thought of a prolonged Jansen-less Dodgers bullpen is terrifying.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

But rather than telling the media the simple truth after the game, the visibly annoyed Dodgers manager instead not only blew off reporters, but was rather curt about it.

“I’m not the one to talk about it,” Mattingly said. “I don’t know who will talk about it, but I’m not talking about it.”

As to be expected, Mattingly’s non-answer sent the Dodgers beat writers into an absolute frenzy on Twitter, and understandably so:

Mattingly effectively blew up Twitter.

Now granted, the media is certainly not privy to nor entitled to know everything that goes on inside the Dodgers clubhouse – even if they think they are – but the questions about why Mattingly did not bring Jansen in to pitch the ninth were certainly not unreasonable and could have been answered a lot better and in a way that did not create a flood of speculation that was, quite frankly, a disservice to his prized closer. This speculation ranged from a best-case scenario of Jansen merely being down with a flu bug or something similar to a worst-case scenario of him being (gulp) injured or (gulp… gulp) involved in some type of an MLB disciplinary action.

To compound matters, Jansen worsened the speculations when he himself refused to speak with reports hoping to glean an answer to a seemingly simple question.

Jansen did little to help himself in this mess, which only added to the speculation.

Finally, after most of the Twitter world had shutdown and gone to bed, Dodgers PR staff put out a statement that did little to ease the confusion and speculation.

Had Mattingly (or Jansen) said this right from the beginning, this situation might not have spiraled out of control.

In a more Kenley Jansen-esque style, the big right-hander later apologized to ESPN Dodgers beat writer Mark Saxon for declining to speak with the media, but he still did not say what was wrong with him.

This says a great deal about the character of the extremely popular Dodgers closer but nothing about the situation.

You would think that Jansen’s apology, which was undoubtedly sincere and heartfelt, would have put this entire matter to rest and it would have until former Dodger and current ESPN broadcaster Rick Sutcliffe chimed in with this obviously well-intentioned but absolutely terrifying tweet – the last one of the night and the one that most Dodger fans woke up to this morning.

Sutcliffe’s tweet suggests that there is more to this than Jansen simply not feeling well. It also creates a whole new level of speculation – none of which is good.

If Kenley Jansen is indeed in need of prayers, as Sutcliffe suggests, it’s safe to say that he will receive tons of them from concerned Dodger fans.