July 27th, 2019 at 9:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka Unless you were already aware that 31-year-old right-hander Kenley Jansen is the Dodgers all-time leader in saves, you certainly wouldn’t know it by what we’ve seen of him this season. As of this writing, Jansen’s 293 career saves – all with the Dodgers – stand head and shoulders (as does he) above every previous Dodger closer since saves became an official statistic in 1969. The next closest is former Dodger great (and 2003 NL Cy Young award winner) Eric Gagne with 161 career saves.
On Friday night, Jansen entered the game against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park hoping to save the 4-1 Dodgers lead for right-hander Joe Kelly, who had entered the game in relief of starting left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning. Kelly had faced exactly one batter after Ryu had given up the (then) 1-1 tying run, getting Nationals third baseman Anthony Rendon to pop out to Dodgers first baseman Joc Pederson with runners at first and second.
The Dodgers would score three runs in the top half of the eighth inning on a clutch three-run home run by third baseman Justin Turner to make it a 4-1 ballgame and a save situation for Jansen.
(Video capture courtesy of SportsNet LA)
Here’s how Jansen’s bottom of the ninth went:
“He was one strike away from having a clean inning,” a visibly annoyed Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters after the game. “After the two-strike base hit off the bat of [Trea] Turner, it just … umm … the wheels came off, really quite frankly.
“He’s a guy that always had command, but after then he hit [Adam] Eaton with that cut fastball and from that point on, he just couldn’t find it. Tonight wasn’t a good night,” Roberts added.
It was a little over a week ago that Jansen withheld from his manager the fact that he should have come out of the July 16 game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park after taking a line drive off of his right ankle; a fact that Roberts learned only after his All-Star closer spoke with reporters following the Dodgers 9-8 loss in which Jansen blew the save and suffered the loss.
“I think I do a very good job of being honest with your guys,” Roberts said, upon learning this. “We’re all trying to win, we’re all trying to compete. That goes without saying. But when you give certainty that you’re not compromising yourself or the team, then I’m going to trust it.
“So to then go back and say, ‘I should’ve come out of the game,’ it’s a little bit tough to swallow, because honesty and trust,” said Roberts. ” If we feel someone else can do a better job because of the health, then we’ll take our chances. We’ve always operated that way … We talked about it, yeah.”
Needless to say, that ‘honesty and trust’ thing might be in need of a little mending between Jansen and the guy who ultimately decides whether or not to bring him into high leverage situations.
Stay tuned…
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Lol, if yesterday’s outing from Kenley wasn’t made any more obvious to Friedman that his work is still not done yet with the trade deadline only days away now then I don’t know what else to say. Another thing that caught my eye regarding Jansen’s latest meltdown was how he kept shaking off Martin’s signs as if he just couldn’t bear to put his wildly inconsistent cutter on the shelf and utilize his sinker and slider more to get himself out of that self-made jam in the 9th. Tells me there’s ZERO trust between him and the club right now and you can’t have that sort of thing lingering at this point in the season where playoff rosters are already beginning to take shape (albeit slowly).
At this rate, there’s a real possibility that Jansen won’t even make the cut anymore once the postseason rolls around. Deep and talented as this club is this year, NO excuse to go in there without your absolute best 25 on that roster as a result…
Well said Manuel. Dodgers go nowhere with Jansen as the closer. I have more faith in Urias closing out games if they don’t get a top notch reliever.I still believe we need another right handed starter for the playoffs. Stripling is not the answer. No guarantees on Hill’s health. Maeda to the bullpen which leaves us one starter short.I would take a shot on Wheeler from the Mets. A rental that would cost less in prospects.
I’m always worried when Jansen comes in lately, especially when there is lest than a three run lead. It wasn’t always this way, but lately it is.
Just how did Turner’s 3 run HR, in the top of the 8th of a 1-1 game, keep Jansen from blowing a save and/or getting a loss? Jansen hadn’t been in the game yet. He isn’t eligible to get a save until the Dodgers get a lead. You make it sound as though Turner got him off a hook he was never on. You could have meant, ‘Jansen would have blown it if it was a solo HR.’ Then you’re playing,”What if…?”