Following yet another seemingly nightly epic fail by 34-year-old Dodgers right-hander Craig Kimbrel on Tuesday night – this one (another) blown save – against the NL Central second-place Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field, social media lit up with angry Dodgers fans calling for his hide … or worse.

“Kimbrel I hope you can see this, YOU SUCK,” posted one angry Dodgers fan on Twitter.

Just how bad is it for the 34-year-old Huntsville, AL native and third-round draft pick in 2008 by the Atlanta Braves out of Wallace State Community College in Hanceville, AL? Check this out from MLB.com‘s Dodgers beat writer Juan Toribio after the game:

“In his four save attempts this season with a one-run lead, Kimbrel has failed to convert the save in each of them. Those are the types of games the Dodgers will need to lock up in October. Will it be Kimbrel in those situations? The Dodgers remain committed to finding out.”

Toribio isn’t lying … not even slightly.

Despite Kimbrel’s seemingly nightly struggles, the one – and only – guy whose opinion matters is that of Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who, yet again, emphatically defended his struggling closer.

“I think that’s some of the noise that I have to drown out and just see how the ball is coming out, see the execution,” Roberts told reporters postgame in defense of his increasingly unpopular closer among Dodgers fans. “The command is considerably better tonight. He was striking the breaking ball. The result is not what any of us wanted, but I’m not going to just go by results alone if I believe that the stuff is good, the process is good.”

Okaaay…

I hate to break it to you, Doc, but “Results matter,” as they say.

As for Kimbrel himself, even he acknowledged that the above Twitter poster was not wrong.

“It’s tremendously frustrating,” Kimbrel said, following his blown save and the Dodgers painful 4-3 loss in the bottom of the 11th inning after having taken a 4-3 lead in the top of the inning. “This whole year really, I’ve felt like I’ve been battling. Not necessarily the other team, but myself. … I just think in the last 40-something innings, it’s been very frustrating. It’s time for me to turn it around, and I’m going to.

“When I got out there on the mound, I feel like I’m going to do my job every time and I have the confidence to throw my pitches. It’s just not working out,” Kimbrel added. “Like I said, it’s going to change. It has to.”

Yes, it does.

To be fair, Kimbrel shouldn’t have even been needed on Tuesday night, were it not for an inexcusable TOOTBLAN (Thrown Out On The Basepaths Like A Nincompoop) by Dodgers newcomer and two-time All-Star and two-time Gold-Glove-winning outfielder Joey Gallo, whom the Dodgers acquired in a trade with the New York Yankees on August 2.

For reasons that only he knows, Gallo violated one of baseball’s Goldenest of Golden Rules – he tried to advance from second base (as the Dodgers placed runner in the top of the 10th inning) to third base – with no outs – on a ground ball hit directly in front of him and directly to Brewers third baseman Luis Urías by Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts. Not failing to look this gift horse in the mouth (literally), Urías promptly got Gallo into a rundown and he was (very) easily tagged out. One batter later, Dodgers shortstop Trea Turner lined a sharp single to Brewers right fielder Andrew McCutchen on which Gallo would have easily scored from second base with what would have been – and should have been – the game-winning run; this followed by a scoreless inning pitched by Dodgers right-hander Phil Bickford in the bottom of the 10th

But the night wasn’t without it’s good – great – Dodgers moments. In addition to back-to-back solo home runs by Gallo and Betts in the top of the fifth inning and a solo shot by Dodgers center fielder Chris Taylor in the top of the seventh, Taylor made an absolutely spectacular – if not impossible – over-his-head running catch for the final out of the bottom of the 10th inning … with the bases loaded.

“I didn’t even know I caught it until I looked at my glove,” Taylor said postgame.

But despite Kimbrel’s blown save and the Dodgers ugly 5-4 loss on Tuesday night, they still maintained their MLB-best 17.0-game lead in the NL West over the second place San Diego Padres (who also lost on Tuesday) and will, in all likelihood, finish the 2022 regular season by double digits.

…Craig Kimbrel notwithstanding.

Play Ball!

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