June 16th, 2019 at 12:00 pm 
by Ron Cervenka Dodger fans are a passionate lot. If you don’t think so, just check social media after an exceptionally exciting Dodgers win.
…or an exceptionally painful Dodgers loss.
Allow me to begin by asking you a question, rhetorical of course:
If a major league hitter goes 20-for-23, that’s pretty good, right? In fact, it would equate to a Hall of Fame-caliber .909 batting average which, of course, has never been done … nor will it ever.
On Friday night, Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen converted his 20th save of the season out of 22 save opportunities. It was the eighth consecutive time in his 10-year MLB career – all with the Dodgers – that the 31-year-old Willemstad, Curacao native has had at least 20 saves in a season. And while the extremely popular and brutally honest 6′-5″ / 265-pound right-hander may not finish his career with Mariano Rivera or Trevor Hoffman-like numbers (652 and 601 career saves respectively), there is an exceptionally good chance that Jansen, who currently has 288 career saves), could one day join these two in baseball immortality in the sacred Halls of Cooperstown.
After Friday night’s exciting 5-3 win over the Chicago Cubs, social media lit up like the postgame fireworks that followed the game. Dodger fans everywhere were posting about how brilliant Jansen’s decision was to intentionally balk Cubs outfielder Jason Heyward over to third base with two outs, a runner on second base, and the potential tying run at the plate in the top of the ninth inning. The unconventional (and rather risky) move worked flawlessly.
And then came Saturday night.
With the Dodgers clinging to a 1-0 lead after absolutely stellar pitching performances by Dodgers right-hander Walker Buehler and Cubs right-hander (and former Dodger) Yu Darvish, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called on his three-time (soon to be four-time) All-Star closer for a second consecutive night.
It did not end well.
Jansen hit Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant with his very first pitch in the top of the ninth inning. Two pitches later he gave up a monster 408 feet home run to always-dangerous Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo to turn a near 1-0 Dodgers win for right-hander Walker Buehler into a blown save and a 2-1 loss for Jansen, his second loss of the season to accompany his two wins … and 20 saves.
As he always does, Jansen immediately owned up to what he called getting “punished.”
“It was more me than them,” Jansen told reporters after the game. “Rizzo is a really good hitter. But me being wild today, he’s a good hitter and he’ll get you if you continue to miss. I missed two away and I yanked it in and he got me. You’ve got to respect they’re a really good team. I didn’t make pitches and I got punished.”
In case you were wondering, Jansen’s 20 saves currently have him tied with Cleveland’s Brad Hand and Detroit’s Shane Greene for second most in all of baseball behind Padres closer Kirby Yates‘ 23 saves.
In other words, Jansen’s blown save on Saturday night, although emotional for Dodger fans everywhere, doesn’t even amount to a blip on the radar and he is still one of – if not the best – closer in the game today.
Play Ball!
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Whoa, thought for a moment there it was Dave Vassegh that wrote this:::giggle:::my bad!
😉
When Kike’ was picked off first base, I thought, “that’s not good”. After the two base hits by Barnes and Taylor I knew the Dodgers gave up a big run and I began to worry. When Kenley hit Bryant, I had the feeling that things were going wrong. Sure as it can be, Rizzo pops it over the wall.
Like they say, You win some, you lose some.
Kenley can not be used two days in a row. This is not the Jansen of old. That’s why the front office has to acquire a quality left hander to work in tandem to close games. The FO can not sit on their laurels because the Dodgers are in an extremely weak National West and an even weaker National League even though the Braves maybe our biggest competition come the playoffs.