Visits: 2
The Dodgers command attention for their offensive flexibility; Roberts deployed 13 different starting position players in the first two games of this series. But their bullpen — which also includes starter Alex Wood, who shifted there this week, and Scott Alexander, among others — could now be an underrated strength.
“Obviously we love depth; depth is the key word around here,” said starter Clayton Kershaw, who allowed one earned run in seven innings Tuesday. “Come playoff time, that’ll be huge. And you saw it out of our pen tonight, too — Scotty with big outs, Floro with big outs, Kenley with big outs, Kenta was unbelievable. It’s a good sign when all things start clicking like that.”
For Jansen — a 6-foot-5, 275-pound former minor league catcher — the outs on Tuesday let him know he is almost back to normal.
After giving up an opposite-field single to Gerardo Parra, he noticed that Chris Iannetta was trying to flick his signature cutter into right field. So he struck him out on a two-seamer, a pitch that veers the other way. Then came a popout and a broken-bat groundout, precisely the kind of feeble contact the cutter is meant to induce.
“I feel like I can control it again,” Jansen said. “It’s not cutting too big. It’s doing its thing; it just moves late at the end. That’s what I see. I feel good about it.”
Jansen spoke in the clubhouse, where a version of the California state flag hangs above his locker. This flag says, “Kenleyfornia Republic,” though, and the bear wears a Jansen jersey. Jansen is at home here, with an organization that signed him from his native Curaçao at age 17, and re-signed him two winters ago for five years and $80 million.
“He’s kind of taken a leadership role the past few years, which is a good thing,” Utley said. “When your closer’s speaking up, those words are definitely listened to.”