During a recent one-on-one interview with Dodgers bullpen coach Chuck Crim, he shared a little secret about the Dodgers bullpen – his bullpen – they have adopted a new motto.

“Our motto now in the bullpen is ‘Hey, nobody scores – nobody scores,’” said Crim. “I’ve got Avi (Luis Avilan) to the point where I say ‘Tell it to me… tell it to me.’ When he leaves the pen I’ll tell him ‘Hey man, nobody scores.’ It’s kind of funny but we instill it in their brains, I don’t care if it’s bases loaded and nobody out, nobody scores.”

Obviously these are only words and of course somebody is going to score, but you get the gist of what Crim is trying to do with his guys, and judging by the results of the last three games, Crim’s confidence-building tactic is working – and working very well.

Since Tuesday’s embarrassing 8-0 pounding at the hands of the third-place Arizona Diamondbacks, the Dodgers bullpen has allowed zero runs and only four hits while walking only one (that’s not a typo) and striking out (are you ready for this) 12 in a combined 13.0 innings of work. That’s an ERA of 0.00 and a WHIP of 0.461 – which is outstanding in anybody’s book.

Believe it or not, the guy who has thrown the most out of the Dodgers bullpen over the past three games is 28-year-old left-hander (and Clayton Kershaw lookalike) Ian Thomas, who allowed only two hits and struck out four in his three innings of work. And while Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen has throw two scoreless innings allowing only one hit with one strikeout while picking up two saves, it is de facto set-up man Chris Hatcher who seems to be taking the ‘nobody scores’ thing very serious. Although Hatcher has given up a couple of very deep fly ball outs in his two innings of work since Tuesday night’s disaster, he hasn’t allowed a base runner and has struck out two.

But perhaps the biggest and most pleasant surprise was the two scoreless innings of relief by Joel Peralta at Coors field on Friday night. The 39-year-old Bonao, Dominican Republic faced six Colorado Rockies batters and retired them in order – four by strikeout.

Although Dodgers right-hander Joel Peralta has spent a lot of time on the disabled list this season, he is 2-1 with a 4.50 ERA. He was outstanding on Friday night, striking out four of the six batters he faced.
(Photo credit – Jon SooHoo)

Honorable mention goes to Messrs. Pedro Baez, Luis Avilan, Juan Nicasio, J.P. Howell, Yimi Garcia. In fact, the only two relievers who are not among Crim’s ‘Nobody Scores’ brigade are Jim Johnson and his dismal 10.59 ERA and Adam Liberatore and his 4.67 ERA.

While it is unreasonable to expect that nobody will score off the Dodgers bullpen over the remaining nine games of the regular season, the fact that Crim’s once often criticized crew has been nothing short of outstanding of late and should give Dodger fans a bit of confidence for the approaching postseason.

Remember guys – nobody scores.