July 15th, 2012 at 9:29 am 
by Ron Cervenka Mark this date down on your calenders – Wednesday, October 3, 2012. It is the date of the final game of the 2012 regular season for the Dodgers. It is an afternoon game with a rare 4:15 pm start time. The Dodgers entire season could hinge on the outcome of this single game against the San Francisco Giants.
Mark this date down on your calenders too – Saturday, July 14, 2012. It is the date that Kenley Jansen fell asleep at the wheel and allowed not one, but two runs to score because of a Little League mistake. The Dodgers entire season may have already been decided as a result of this single two-run mistake in a game against the lowly San Diego Padres.
No caption necessary.
There is no need for me to go into the details of what happened, you don’t have to look very hard to find it – it is plastered on every sports page, baseball blog site, baseball forum, sports talk show and, of course, ESPN Sports Center (Da da da… Da da da). Heck, there is even 3 minute 19 second video clip of it on the Dodgers website that shows a half dozen replays of it (what’s up with that?). I certainly may be wrong here, but this very well may be the first time in MLB history where two players have stolen home on the same play.
Unfortunately, it may end up being the one single mistake that ends up costing the Dodgers the NL West title and possibly an NL Wild Card berth into the post season. As it stands, Jansen’s gaff has already knocked the Dodgers out of first place in the NL West and instantly put them two games back for the second Wild Card spot. Not only will it be seen on blooper videos in baseball stadiums across the country for the remainder of this season, but undoubtedly for seasons to come. It may even end up on one of those greatest bloopers of the year shows that we all love to watch and laugh at… unless, of course, they involve the Dodgers.
Ditto
(Video captures courtesy of Fox Sports West/Prime Ticket)
I’m not going to sit here and bag on Kenley Jansen, it serves no useful purpose. I certainly know that there is no one, absolutely no one in the world who feels worse about what happened than Kenley Jansen. We all make mistakes; a lesson learned; to err is human, to forgive, divine; what’s done is done; you can’t turn back the clock; it is what it is; and so on. (Have you ever notice that there are a lot of clichés on this topic?). Unfortunately, all of these clichés will be tossed out the window if Jansen’s gaff does end up costing the Dodgers a trip to the post season. To err is human, to forgive, divine – unless it takes you out of the post season.
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What is it with the Dodgers, stealing home, and guys names Cabrera?
On July 2, 2006, Angels shortstop Orlando Cabrera stole home off of a similarly sleeping Chad Billingsley in a game that the Angels went on to win by a score of 4-0. (Photo credit si.com)
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The mistake is inexcusable, but it doesn’t wipe out all the saves and holds he’s given us. And we all know that should the Dodgers miss out on the playoffs by one game (and I don’t think they will) it won’t be just because of this one gaffe. Personally, should we miss out on the playoffs, I’d place the blame squarely on the shoulders of Uribe whose continuous failure to produce at the plate has cost us far more games than all the rest of the team combined!
Good point, ebbetsfld. The problem is that it is hard to put your finger on any one single Uribe failure, but it is easy to do so on Kenley’s mistake, as it stands out like a sore thumb (yet another cliché).
There is no getting around it, Jansen’s mistake is (as you say) simply inexcusable and it will be entrenched in my mind forever should the Dodgers miss the post season by one game.
For me that ranks up there with Bill Buckner, and Steve Bartman. Only difference was it wasn’t a playoff game. But as eluded to, it may very well has grave implications in the months to come. The only good thing to come out of all this is that you can put your money on it, that will NEVER happen to Kenley again EVER!!!!
No doubt Kenley feels worse about it than anyone, perhaps with the exception of AJ. There is little that can be said to soothe Kenley, but Don Mattingley certainly didn’t throw him under the bus (love those cliches) in his media conference.
I know this is glaring and will be pointed to if we miss the playoffs by one game. The dramatic moment always is remembered, but not the failure to move runners over on failed bunt attempts or leaving runners at third base with less than two out. How many games do they cost us in the run of a season? Ron is right. We simply can’t calculate them.
We win and lose as a team. A mental error, and Yogi tells us that 90% of the game is half mental, always can be clearly attributed to the individual who suffered the lapse. The other failures – to hit a cut off man, throwing to the wrong base, walking guys, failure to move a runner to third, etc, are just as glaring at the time, but fade quickly into our memory as they happen so often, probably again in the next game.
If we miss the playoffs, Kenley will unfairly bear the brunt of the attack. He definitely messed up, but so has just about every guy on the team at some point or points during the season. Our success or failure depends on a whole lot of individual moments that play out as a team effort. I, for one, will not lay the blame on Kenley for an instant. Forgiveness is not conditional on the ultimate outcome of our season. Forgiveness is given unconditionally, or it is not forgiveness.
My guess is that we don’t miss out by one game. We will either gain a playoff spot or lose it by games, not one game. My guess also is that Kenley comes out even stronger in the long haul as he will not let this mistake eat him up as it seems Brox did with his NY game.
Go Kenley!!
There are no words to describe what happened last night. As mind-numbing and unbelievable as it was, this is the kind of mistake that needs to be quickly forgotten and then move on past it. You can bet the farm that Jansen will NEVER let that shit happen again.