During his daily Zoom press conference on Sunday afternoon, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was asked – yet again – what he thought about the artificial crowd noise being pumped into an empty Dodger Stadium during his team’s intrasquad games. His answer – yet again – was: “It’s better than nothing.”

The same cannot be said for Dodgers All-Star closer Kenley Jansen.

Following his third appearance of Spring Training-2 (aka Summer Camp) on Sunday night in the first of three exhibition games, two against the Arizona Diamondbacks and one against the Angels of Anaheim, Jansen, known for his brutally honest answers, gave a brutally honest answer when asked about the fake crowd noise.

“Missing my fans, it wasn’t the great Dodger fans,” Jansen answered directly. “It is weird; it didn’t hype me up at all. … It’s new, a new thing for us right now. We expect to … adjust to it some time.”

As for his performance on Sunday night, he again did not allow a baserunner, retiring the Dbacks in order on 11 pitches in the Dodgers 9-2 rout of the Snakes.

Having now retired all nine batters he has faced thus far, even after arriving two weeks late to camp due to having contracted COVID-19, what does the 32-year-old Willemstad, Curacao native and 10-year MLB veteran still have to work on to get ready for Thursday’s season-opener against The Hated Ones?

“I would say the next couple of days is just get to the field, come tomorrow, get some PFP’s, throw to some bases, cover some bunts, you know, situations that I didn’t have the last three days pitching,” Jansen answered. “Just probably come to the field, get some PFP’s, throw to second, throw to first, just some bunt coverage.

“Starting late hasn’t helped me, and just one more game, just go out there and just be… we’ll try at anything,” he added. “Just keep on working to where I … just come to work tomorrow and practice and practice those PFP’s I think will help.”

Play Ball!

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