May 6th, 2019 at 11:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka It didn’t take long for social media to light up following the devastating walk-off grand slam home run that Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen gave up to San Diego Padres pinch-hitter Hunter Renfroe on a 92.8-MPH cut fastball on an 0-1 count in the bottom of the ninth inning on Sunday afternoon. But what is utterly amazing is that despite saving the two previous games of the three-game weekend series at ‘Dodger Stadium South’ (AKA: Petco Park), many so-called Dodger fans actually bagged on the 31-year-old Willemstad, Curacao native and arguably the best closer in the game right now, with some going so far as to suggest that he’s through.
Seriously? Kenley Jansen is through? Give me a break.
Fortunately, there were many many more with logical, cooler heads.
(Image courtesy of Twitter)
But you would think that despite the above numbers, Jansen himself would have been devastated over the cutter that he left right over the middle of the plate. Granted, he most certainly was miffed about it. But devastated? Not hardly.
“I tried to climb the ladder, but it stayed down a bit,” Jansen told reporters after nearly escaping the bases loaded / two-out jam. “I threw my best pitch, what I wanted to throw there. That’s baseball. You’ve got to shake it off.”
(Video capture courtesy of SportsNet LA)
Ironically, it wasn’t Renfroe’s slam that beat Jansen and the Dodgers. It was the base hit by Padres All-Star, Gold Glove, Silver Slugger first baseman Eric Hosmer and consecutive bunt singles by Padres center fielder Manuel Margot and left fielder Wil Myers that turned a Dodgers 5-4 lead into an 8-4 loss.
“If that’s the way they have to beat me, I’ll take that. It’s a compliment, two perfect bunts … they beat me,” Jansen added.
One of those bunts was indeed perfect, the one laid down by Margot that rolled down the third base line that Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner opted to let roll instead of trying to make a play on it hoping it would roll foul.
It did not.
The other bunt, the one expertly dropped down by Myers, rolled past Jansen and into a vacated shortstop position due to Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager breaking for the second base bag when Myers squared – this after Myers bunted Jansen’s first pitch foul … which should have been a huge clue for the 25-year-old Dodgers shortstop.
“It’s unfortunate,” Seager said. “It was one of those perfectly bunted, not great bunts that kind of confused us.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had a different assessment of that “perfectly bunted” ball.
“That can’t happen. It doesn’t matter whose fault it is, but that can’t happen,” a visibly annoyed Roberts said after the 8-4 loss.
It did happen.
Fortunately, the Dodgers – and a huge contingent of Dodger fans – left San Diego having taken two of three and the series win. As such, the Dodgers find themselves still atop the National League West Division with a respectable 22-14 (.611) record. Unfortunately, they certainly could have used a series sweep over the Padres, as the Arizona Diamondbacks are a scant 2.0 games behind the division leaders.
But hey, “That’s baseball,” as Kenley Jansen astutely put it.
Play Ball!
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Thanks to Roberts going to Jansen for the third straight game in as many days (and his previous two outings were pretty labor intensive, mind you), he won’t be able to call on him again for at least the first two games of the Dodgers’ current homestand. Quite a steep price to pay for going after that sweep and coming up empty. Back to Jansen, what really wrecked his outing yesterday was his refusal to mix in his slider (only offspeed pitch he has, really) against the very same hitters he faced the day before in the series clincher! Like Kershaw before, he’s gotten so irritatingly predictable that hitters like Renfroe just sit back and tee off without feeling the least bit intimidated by his presence anymore. This loss should serve as a nice little lesson to both manager and closer in the sense that going to the well one too many times will cause it to run dry eventually, heh…
You and I have an entirely different assessment of this situation.
And that “bothers” you??? That’s a new one, lol.
Not in the least. I consider the source.
Well that’s good to know, I guess.
Dodgers did have a couple of chances to keep the game from being that close to begin with. In each of these 3 games Dodger pitching served up a HR in the very 1st inning putting team behind at the outset. Dodgers thus did well to win at least 2 of these games. By no means is Kenley the only culprit here when one considers that this pitching staff of ours has now surrendered 47 HR’s thus far, and only 4 teams in the NL have allowed more….
I hadn’t realized that, Paul. Good take.
The title of this article should be “Kenley Jansen Gets Lit”
Chirper.
😉
LOL, co-signin’ that one Mike!
One of those games. Just when I thought they’d win they lost. Those bunts, we have to admit, where beauties. I don’t remember ever seeing anything like that before. I’m happy for Kenley’s attitude, you can’t make it bother you. Tonight’s another game.
Bunting is a lost art. However, it may be the best remedy against infield shifts. Whenever I see a third baseman move behind second base with a left-handed hitter at the plate, I see an easy single with any bunt toward the vacant third base.
Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.