Is the era of Kenley Jansen upon us?
Based on this weekend, it sure looks like it could be. Clayton Kershaw pitched eight shutout innings, and Jansen earned his first big league save as the Dodgers edged the Mets, 1-0. The Dodgers took three of four in the series and are now six games back and in third place in the NL West.
Much like their other two wins, the offense was bailed out big time by the starting staff. With Kershaw's performance today, the starters combined to give up only one earned run in 29 innings this series. It's hard to imagine doing any better than that.
R.A. Dickey was the starter for the Mets, and he was every bit as good as Kershaw the time he was in there. Unfortunately for him, he tweaked his left leg in the sixth and had to come out. He sure as heck didn't want to, as he was practically kicking and screaming to stay in, but Jerry Manuel didn't seem to care.
As for offensive highlights, well... there was little and none through four innings. David Wright doubled in the first and Matt Kemp singled in the second. And that was it.
Both teams had a chance to score in the fifth. With two outs, Jeff Francoeur and Josh Thole singled for the Mets. But that also meant Dickey was due up, and he grounded right back to Kershaw.
Andre Ethier doubled with one out to left. He then advanced to third on a wild pitch. There were two chances to drive him in, but it just didn't happen. Casey Blake struck out and Blake DeWitt grounded to first.
The Mets really had more opportunities the next two innings, but kept coming up flat when they needed a big hit. Jose Reyes singled then got picked off of first in the sixth. Sure enough, Luis Castillo doubled right after that, and ended up being stranded. Ike Davis doubled in the next inning, but Thole grounded into an inning ending double play.
With a scoreless game going into the bottom of the eighth, the Dodgers finally cashed in. Pedro Feliciano came on and struck out Ethier to start. Blake then singled to left. Rafael Furcal pinch-hit for DeWitt, but fouled out.
Now with two down, Russell Martin smoked one to the gap in left-center. Blake was on the move, and when Carlos Beltran bobbled it off the wall, Blake scored with ease for the game's first and only run.
The question then turned to who would close out the game. Kershaw was out after being pinch-hit for. Joe Torre stated before the game that Hong-Chih Kuo and Jeff Weaver were unavailable. Jonathan Broxton technically was available, but he threw 28 pitches over two innings on Saturday.
Sticking to his word, Torre wasn't afraid to put Jansen in the line of fire. And boy was he fun to watch. Beltran popped to Raffy, and Jason Bay and Davis struck out swinging to end the game.
Even with me singing his praises, we all have to be careful not to get too carried away with Jansen's spectacular start to his career. For one, he's only appeared in two games, and hitters aren't used to his stuff yet. Two, he played the Mets! They have to be the worst hitting team in the majors right now.
In a way, Jansen is similar to Ethier. Nobody was hotter than Ethier to start the year. Now, he looks completely lost. The injury to his pinkie didn't help, but I'm sure he's feeling a lot of pressure to duplicate the big numbers he put up before. The expectations when he came back from the DL were just way too high.
Which is why Jansen relates to him. He's red hot right now, but let's let the kid settle in. At some point he's going to take some lumps, but that's normal. I hope he doesn't, but it's only realistic. At 22-years-old, we need to be careful not to expect greatness so soon.
The Dodgers survived some battles the last few days, which should only make them stronger for the stretch run. They'll be tested right away, as they go to San Diego for three, then right over to San Francisco for three more. Following an off day Monday, Chad Billingsley will get the call in the opener.
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