Unless you’ve been stranded on a desert island (or without cellphone service) for the last month, you are probably well aware that Dodgers three-time All-Star and two-time Trevor Hoffman Reliever of the Year award-winner Kenley Jansen has been good for the past month.

Exceptionally good.

Since May 5, the 33-year-old Willemstad, Curacao native, who the Dodgers signed as an amateur free agent on November 17, 2004, (as a shortstop), appeared in eight games, earning saves in seven of them, without allowing a run and only one hit to the 28 batters he has faced, while walking two and striking out 11 of them in his combined 9.1 innings pitched over that stretch.

Exceptionally good indeed.

“We’ve seen him really good, but I think that this run is really good, obviously,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, after his team’s 4-3 win over the San Francisco Giants on Thursday night in front of a Dodger Stadium COVID-19 sellout crowd of 16,343 when asked if this is the best he has seen of Jansen. “I can’t really recall every snippet of time in the last six years, but this is as good as any reliever in the game right now, I would argue.”

All Jansen did was retire the Giants in order in the top of the ninth inning on Thursday to earn his 12th save of the season, including strikeouts of Giants second baseman Donovan Solano, who had homered earlier in the game, and pinch hitter and always dangerous Buster Posey.

Dodger fans will recall that their hard-throwing closer with his famed cutter went through some rough times earlier this season. In fact, at one point, the gentile giant saw his earned run average climb to an un-Jansen-like 2.61, which most relievers would kill for. But not Jansen, who has a remarkable 2.35 ERA over his 12-year MLB career, all with the Dodgers.

Welcome back, Kenley!

Play Ball!

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