August 29th, 2019 at 8:15 am 
by Ron Cervenka There are 80 million reasons why 31-year-old Dodgers right-hander Kenley Jansen is and will continue to be the Dodgers closer … even if it kills us. Here they are:
Yes, it’s true. Money talks and… well… you know the rest. Simply put, when you (Andrew Friedman and the Dodgers, actually) are paying a guy Mariano Rivera-kind of money, there is no way, absolutely no way on earth, that you are not going to continue to run him out there at every given (save) opportunity – period.
On Wednesday night against arguably the worst team in the National League West, Jansen blew his seventh save of the season (in 34 save opportunities) and his third in the month of August. For a team vying for their first World Series title in 31 years, this is, quite frankly, unacceptable. But here again, you are not going to let $80 million sit on the bench … even if it kills us.
For you bottom-line types, the bottom line is that the Dodgers, in fact, won Wednesday night’s game by a score of 6-4 in 10 innings – blown save notwithstanding – to reduce their Magic Number to nine, with 27 games remaining in the 2019 regular season. As such, it would take a collapse of biblical proportions for the Dodgers not to win their seventh consecutive National League West division title. Even if they do not win another regular-season game this season (which is ridiculously unlikely), the chances of the Arizona Diamondbacks not losing nine of their 29 remaining regular-season games or the San Francisco Giants eight (or the Padres four) is beyond all comprehension … so there’s that.
To recap Wednesday night’s (near) catastrophy, in a nutshell, the Padres scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning off of Dodgers right-handed starter Kenta Maeda and the Dodgers three runs in the top of the second off of Padres right-handed ‘opener’ Trey Wingenter. Neither team would score again until the eighth inning when Dodgers pinch-hitter Joc Pederson doubled in a huge insurance run to make it 4-2. The Padres countered in their half of the eighth when (perceived all-better) Dodgers right-hander Pedro Baez gave up a solo home run to Padres first baseman Eric Hosmer to make it 4-3 and an obvious save situation for Jansen.
On his second pitch, Jansen gave up a double to Padres pinch-hitter Francisco Mejía, who took third on a fly out to right. With the tying run on third base, Jansen uncorked a wild pitch that was a good three feet over Dodgers catcher Russell Martin‘s head allowing Mejía to score easily, thereby giving Jansen his seventh blown save of the season and third in four weeks.
(Video capture courtesy of Sportsnet LA)
Somehow, Jansen managed to escape the inning, although he did so with the game-winning run on second base in the form of Padres pinch-hitter Wil Myers, whom Jansen had walked on four pitches.
The Dodgers scored twice in the top of the 10th on a huge two-out walk and even huger stolen base by Dodgers second baseman Kiké Hernandez; only his third stolen base of the season. Kiké would come around to score on a game-changing throwing error by Padres shortstop Luis Urias on a hard grounder by Martin, who would himself score on back-to-back singles by pinch-hitter Will Smith and centerfielder A.J. Pollock for an insurance run to make it 6-4 Dodgers.
Dodgers right-hander Casey Sadler came in to pitch the bottom of the 10th and, after a one-out single by former Dodger Manny Machado, struck out Hosmer, and got Padres right fielder Hunter Renfroe to pop out harmlessly to Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager to pick up his first major league save. (Hmmm…)
Ironically, Jansen was credited with the win; more specifically, a so-called ‘Vulture Win.’
It is well beyond evident that Jansen has not only lost his stuff (as they say) but he has also lost his confidence – an absolute must for any closer.
“He’s throwing the ball well, he really is,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts actually said to reporters after the game about Jansen’s blown save. “It’s a play [Mejia’s ninth-inning leadoff double] that Chris [Taylor] gave it everything he had. And if you make that play then it’s a completely different inning. So I still think the ball is coming out really well.”
(Video capture courtesy of SportsNet LA)
“In that situation, it’s a little bit of bad luck,” Martin generously said of Jansen’s seventh blown save of the season.
This, of course, immediately brings to mind the famous quote by the great Thomas Jefferson, our country’s third president:
“I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.”
Play Ball!
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Posted in 
It’s become natural for me to think we’re losing when we have a one run lead entering the opponent’s final inning with Jansen coming in for a save.
I’m just hoping Roberts is right that Kenley won’t always fail to get the save. It’s good to see the magic number down to a single digit.
Agreed, Andrew Friedman is a businessman. And it’s reasonably easy to be a businessman when there is no pressure. Having a 20 game lead is no pressure. Everybody who has put that lineup together looks like a genius.
But the days of intense pressure are coming. Will Kenley Jansen rise or fall with the pressure? I’m not counting my chickens. If past is prologue, we may be in for a bumpy October.
Yes Andrew Friedman is a businessman but he isn’t a fool. We just don’t know where his breaking point is and when he is going to consider writing down some bad debt.
Not 80 million, three of five years are gone. With this franchise who wouldn’t go above luxury tax and now this concern, as long as fans keeping pouring in, they won’t make tough financial moves to win WS.
help
Can Jansen turn it around and be great for 11 wins in the post season? I think yes.
Stop worrying about it!
We already can’t beat the Yankees according to the so called experts on MLB because we lost 2 out of three last weekend. We are doomed!!!!
Sit back and see if we come together like we did in 1988 and do what it takes to win it all.
I am just so amazed that Roberts, after all he and all of us has seen from Kenley within this past month would have the guts to say that (““He’s throwing the ball well, he really is,)” let’s face it, this BP if KJ remains the closer will be no match against either the Yankees or Astros in a potential WS match up.
Paul? Let’s face it? Nah. Beans gotta be cooked.
Seriously, Andrew Friedman is going to override Roberts, Honeycutt, Kershaw and whatever other pitcher stands to lose a W because of –Jansen’s paycheck? No way! Jansen gets paid whether he “closes” or not.That would be the stupidest business decision of all. The front office blunder occurred by failing to secure a closer before the deadline. Now it’s a dice roll whether someone can get hot at the right time (you know, the opposite of the Dodgers’ usual post-season tradition).