April 11th, 2014 at 6:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka Kenley Jansen blew a save on Tuesday night. One night later he gave up a game-winning home run. The world as we know it is coming to an end, the sky is falling, Jansen must be hurt, he’s no good, the Dodgers need to remove him from the closer role or get rid of him, right?
Wrong.
Even Mariano Rivera, the greatest closer of all time and a strong candidate to become baseball’s first unanimous Hall of Fame vote getter, blew saves and lost games (albeit not too many of either) – so relax, people; and whatever you do, do not talk to Jansen about being compared to Rivera, as one reporter did after Wednesday night’s 7-6 loss to the defending AL Central Champion Detroit Tigers. If you do, be prepared to hear about it from Kenley.
“I don’t care about Mariano, man. I’m me,” Jansen said, visibly annoyed by the comparison.
Jansen struck out two-time and defending AL MVP Miguel Cabrera with a runner in scoring position in an epic battle in Tuesday night’s exciting game only to give up an RBI single to the next batter he faced – four-time All-Star catcher Victor Martinez. VMart’s single cost Jansen his first blown save of the young season, however the Dodgers went on to win the game 3-2 in 10 innings. But on Wednesday night, Jansen was brought into the game in the top of the 10th inning with the game tied 6-6 (a non-save situation) and he gave up a towering 408-foot home run to that very same Victor Martinez.
“He’s tough, man, he’s a tough hitter,” said Jansen after Wednesday night’s painful loss. “He’ll make you battle. I feel like I executed and one pitch in there and he took me deep. He kept fouling me off away and I tried to go in there to back him up. Nothing I can do about it, just a tough series, can’t worry about it. Gotta go back now to Arizona and get it back again.”
Jansen has been so overwhelmingly dominant since becoming the Dodgers closer that it is almost ridiculous to give a couple of bumps in the road any consideration.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)
Did Jansen approach Wednesday night’s non-save situation any differently than he would have if it had been a save situation?
“To me, whenever Donnie [Mattingly] wants me out there, I try to help the team win, that’s all I worry about” Jansen said. “In that situation I just try to keep the team in the game and hopefully we can walk-off in the next inning, so whenever the phone rings, I go out there in that situation and just try to help the team win.”
As is normally the case after a couple of rough outings (especially closers), pundits immediately began calling for Jansen’s demotion from the closer role or even speculated that there may be something physically wrong with the 26-year-old Curacao native. And while ‘haters gonna hate,’ Jansen insists that he is perfectly healthy.
“I feel good, man, I feel strong,” said Jansen. “Like I said, everybody [is] gonna have their tough times and I had a tough series right there. I’ve just got to shake it off and put a stop on it and now go to Arizona and just try to help the team win.”
With Wednesday’s loss the Dodgers are now 6-4 on the season but still only a half-game out of first place in the NL West. And with several key players nursing their way back from injuries, there are a number of things to worry about, but worrying about Kenley Jansen is definitely not one of them.
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We all know what Jansen has to do. He just has to turn the page as all great closers do and concentrate on his next outing.
Naturally we get concerned when a player who performs with excellence appears to slip. That just doesn’t meet our lofty expectations for Kenley. His performance has raised those expectations for us. One concern so often is that the player has an injury that we don’t know about. How often has that happened on the Dodgers in the last 2/3 years?
Another is those SHW games that do become important as the season progresses.
Having said that it is not a time to panic but also not a time to take things too lightly. I would have to see a longer pattern to conclude something is amiss. One announcer the other night said Kenley was throwing even harder and not getting the break in the same way as he previously did. I don’t know if that is accurate or not.
As you know, I have tremendous respect for former MLB manager and current DodgerTalk co-host Kevin Kennedy. For the past two years, Kennedy has said that Jansen relies too heavily on his cut fastball. This is an interesting statement because, as we all know, Jansen’s cutter is his strikeout pitch and the pitch that is the cause of his frequent comparisons to Mariano Rivera.
While Kenley’s cutter is outstanding, it is not Mariano Rivera outstanding and when batters are laying on it, it is hittable – hence the two crushing blows by Victor Martinez.
To his credit, Kenley’s 4-seam fastball reached 98 MPH against Miguel Cabrera on Tuesday night – something we’ve not seen for a while. This blazing fastball coupled with Kenley’s 92-94 cutter are a devastating one-two punch.
I tend to agree with Kevin Kennedy that Jansen (and the Dodgers) would be better served if he would mix his pitches up a little more. Although a cut fastball is very difficult to hit, it is hittable if you know it’s coming – as are most pitches.
All of this said, I am not worried about Kenley – not yet, at least.
I would think they knew Mariano Rivera’s cutter was coming also, Mo had, as we all know, tremendous success with it. This should give us more trust in Jansen’s. I’m saying we shouldn’t worry about them knowing it’s coming. I just hope Kenley is not worrying.