NLDS Update: Kenley Jansen

[samscherer]

Jansen pitched great in Game 1. He did not pitch great in Game 2. At all.

As much as I love Kenley Jansen, as painful as it is to save this, he can’t be pitching in high leverage situations this postseason. After a sharp outing in Game 1, Jansen entered the 9th inning of Game 2 with a three-run lead. He left with 2 outs and a one run lead. He started off the inning well by striking out Will Myers and then losing a long at bat with Jake Cronenworth and giving up a single. After that, it fell apart. Kenley couldn’t put anybody away, and for some reason wasn’t throwing his slider. So it was the four seamer and 88-91 mph cutters. Every pitch. That won’t cut it. And it didn’t He gave up back to back RBI hits to Moreland and Grisham before Dave Roberts pulled him for Joe Kelly.

The stuff just looks flat. He doesn’t look confident or happy. It just isn’t working. Roberts and Andrew Friedman have said that they will probably use the bullpen in a completely match-up based way going forward, which is honestly terrific. It puts everybody and the team in the best position to succeed. To Jansen’s credit, he’s been open to this. He’s a terrific guy. He just isn’t a terrific pitcher, or even the great one that he was in the first half this season. Roberts and Friedman have both said he’s going to have to be good for the Dodgers to win the World Series. If that means he’s pitching in the 9th inning because the match-ups are good, so be it. But he is, as of now, not the team’s automatic closer.