Jansen meltdown leaves Dodgers with latest crushing loss, 4-3

Even when things seem to go right for the Dodgers, somehow they still manage to go very wrong.

The Dodgers were all set up Monday for a 3-1 win on an Andre Ethier game-winning pinch hit. Ready to praise Clayton Kershaw on earning his sixth win.

Only the game proved one inning too long, Kenley Jansen unable to close it down as the Astros rallied for three, two-out runs in the ninth to escape with a 4-3 victory in Houston.

Add it to the growing list of heartbreaking losses for the Dodgers. One moment so close to victory, the next walking off in disbelieve. If familiar disbelief.

The loss dropped the Dodgers to 21-28, leaving them a season-high seven games under .500.

After injuries to Jonathan Broxton, Hong-Chih Kuo and Vicente Padilla, the closing job has fallen to the inexperienced Jansen, who looked plenty green in the ninth inning.

Jansen allowed a one-out single to Bill Hall, his fourth hit of the night, but then struck out pinch-hitter Matt Downs for the second out.

Then in an 11-pitch at-bat, he walked Angel Sanchez. His inexperience further showed when he neglected the runners, and they managed an easy double-steal.

With two strikes on Michael Bourn, Jansen gave up a two-run double to tie it. Jansen was melting now, but the bullpen was shot. He was ahead 0-2 on Clint Barmes and hit him with a pitch.

Which set the state for Hunter Pence, who lined a single to left to score the speedy Bourn.

The worst team in the National League had a rare comeback victory to covet, the Dodgers another anguish filled defeat.

Matt Kemp hit a solo home run for his team-high 11th on the season and Kershaw held the Astros to one run in six innings, but highlights were once again obscured by a difficult loss.

ALSO:

Formulating a major league baseball lineup is 'not rocket science'

-- Steve Dilbeck

Photo: Houston's Hunter Pence drives in the winning run on a two-out single in the bottom of the ninth in the Astros' 4-3 victory over the Dodgers on Monday. Credit: David J. Phillip / Associated Press

Comments

[FormerLifelongDodgerFan]

Beyond pathetic.

[16blows]

dudgers are 21-28, not 21-29 (don't bother fixing it Steve/no rush - you'll be correct by tomorrow night at this time anyway : )

2011 - 21-28 / finished ?? - ??
1966 - 30-19 / finished 95-67
1967 - 21-28 / finished 73-89
1968 - 24-25/ finished 76-86
1992 - 24-25 / finished 63-99

_________

Through the first 29 games, dudgers have scored 166 runs, shut out 4 times

1966 - 181 runs, shut out 4 times - including 3 straight games
1967 - 181 runs, shut out 2 times
1968 - 132 runs, shut out 7 times

_________

1966 - after 29 games, Koufax was 10-1, Osteen 7-5, Sutton 7-4, Drysdale 4-4
2011 - kershaw 5-3, kuroda 5-4, billingsley 2-4, lilly 3-4, garland 1-2

Interesting how the '66 starters had already been involved in 42 decisions, while the 2011 same have been involved in only 33.

Bullpen.

_________

[Since '58]

McCourt karma coming to roost. We're looking at a soon-to-be cellar dweller.

[California Son]

With every loss the fan boycott of Dodger baseball and its sponsors grows stronger. With every loss Mccourt grows a little weaker. With every loss MLB grows more concerned. With every loss the team grows more frustrated. With every loss the Dodgers sink further South in the pennant race.

[Big Jim Slade]

I just give up on the Dodgers. Worthless the lot of them.

Clueless McCourt, Mattingly, Coletti, Melba Toast Loney, Furcal the Listing Agent (as in DL List), Blake (who should be working at Home Depot), Big Rod (shades of Al Ferrara), Finger Flippin' Ethier, and the left fielder of the week club.

In May. Been a fan for fifty years. Even through the Bill Sudakis era. Enough said.

I just plain give up on all these bums. Turn out the lights and just go home.

The fish rots from the head down, McCourt.

[16blows]

Blog gremlins rampant... should read after 49 games, not 29 as to runs/starting pitcher wins.

[Labeldude]

Little Joe has no idea how to manage a bullpen. Not surprising though since he learned from the king of mismanaging a bully - JoJo The Clown.

[Terry]

Eight games under .500 and the tough part of the schedule starting this week. Look very bad.

[HI Dodger Fan]

sad, sad, sad. you could literally see it coming when he walked sanchez. the guy has one home run in his career. i'm sure jansen was trying to throw a strike. he just couldn't do it. i didn't see the pitches but how that guy got so selective at the plate is a miracle for the astros. he's struck out more than three times more than he has walked. my question is why donnie switched it up? he had guerrier close the milwaukee win and try to close the sox win. how come he had guerrier come in the 8th this time? people need to know their roles. flip-flopping with the wind can't be good for anyone.

[Mike]

I believe they're actually 21-28 now.

[Nor Cal True Blue]

Some how I'm not shocked. Just another pitiful performance from a very bad team.

[Dodger Tony]

The fact that loser Mattingly, the man who has never won anything, let Jansen pitch to Bourn after he allowed a double steal and then hit Pence, with lefty Elbert ready in the pen and Jansen having thrown over thirty pitches is disgraceful. He just kept trying to get blood from a turnip and his own greed cost the Dodgers and Kershaw this game and the win. Disgusting!

[TonyOJay]

Ha, Matt Kemp and the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. Good good, keep up the great work guys.

[Hollywood Dodger Mark]

Hey Steve Lyons - keep mocking the Astros. I'm sure they couldn't possibly hear about it - on television. Nice work.

[hempy]

we stink!!!

[MWP]

"The worst team in the National League had a rare comeback victory to covet..." Not for long, Stevie-boy. The Dodgers are easily the worst team in the NL. Top to bottom.

[Steve Dilbeck]

16blows, Mike: How right you are. Who knew MLB updated their standings so quickly. Anyway, corrected. Thanks.

[alanw19]

astros had lost 178 straight games when trailing by 2 or more in the 9th....

so somehow the offense has to get more than a 2-run lead for the 9th innings... another option might be to have clayton throw complete games regardless and only pitch every 6 days or something like that.

just tossing up options, any options, to get us a win

beat the astros

[CelebrateTheseDudsFailures]

disagree that such a loss is "heartbreaking" at all, butt, indeed, MAJOR cause for celebra-shun & jubi-LA-shun, as these kind of games are the BEST thing that could possibly happen to these "duds," as the absolute worst thing would be for this team of total losers to have any success at all........
they hopefully will continue to lose, & also turn apparent victories into defeats.......if they neva win another game all year, THAT would be the greatest thing that could happen, as such a total laughing-stock would, then, certainly bring-about the requisite change(s)?????

[neoncactus]

Hopefully Kershaw learned a valuable lesson from this. If he wants a win, he's going to have to go 9 innings every time out. Because the offense isn't going to score runs and the bullpen isn't going to hold his leads. They're just terrible, and the only silver lining I can find is that at least it keeps the pressure on Frank. If the Dodgers were winning, he'd use that to justify his ownership of the team.

[McCourt blows]

Make no mistake, this is the worst team in baseball. Although the McCourt virus likes this team. It's only May and already I'm looking forward to hockey season. Thanks Virus.

[BlueDobie]

I wish the end of the month would hurry up and get here. Once McBroke isn'table to make payroll, MLB will have to step in. It can't happen soon enough.
if something isn't done soon, then Kemp, Ethier, Kershaw, etc, will bolt for teams that have no ownership, or payroll issues and we'll be left with rebuilding again for the next 4-5 years.

1988 seems so long ago!

[Labeldude]

I had hoped that by getting rid of one of the three stooges running this club when Joe left that it would actually help this team, but instead we got Shemp.

[Chumpy Kemp]

What the Dodgers lack in talent they more than make up for with no heart.

[campc4]

Time for Frank, Ned and Donnie to start packing their bags!

[alanw19]

respectfully, I am inclined to disagree that we need to lose to help the situation with frank. the books are cooked, he's already taken out the lavish lifestyle funds, and I'm inclined to think that a few more thousand nightly buying parking spaces, hot dogs and tickets is not going to enable him to meet a payroll of millions. I admit, could be wrong.

and, we can win while fans still stay away.

regardless of all that, 2 things: there's no guarantee after the dog-n-pony show of monitoring that selig will seize and sell; and, the best bet all along for frank to be forced to sell has been for a divorce judge to make the order....so circle june 22

of course, bottom line - no matter how it happens, we all him gone. just 2 cents worth.

[skyharbor]

The McCourt Dodgers have been likened to the sinking of the Titanic but last nights performance seemed more like the Hindenburg landing.

[Brian]

Can someone explain why Jerry Sands was batting sixth and not third? He's a better hitter than Loney at the moment. A 150 point difference in OPS.

[Chumpy Kemp]

If mccourt is unable to make the payroll, at least the players will be paid what they are worth.

[StanL]

The Dodger record of 21-28 (7.5 back) appears a bit more better than it actually is. They are a full 9 games back in the important lost column. Over the last ten games, the Dodgers had the worst won to loss percentage of all MLB teams.

[Doug C.]

And just think, after this dreadful (100-loss?) season mercifully ends we can all probably look forward to the announcement that Vinny is finally hanging it up. You think the ballpark looks empty this year.....

[West Coast Ram]

Jansen's ignoring the baserunners is right out of Broxton's play book.

[Since '58]

If Vinny retires and is replaced by Eric Collins, then I may just move to another city, and I'm a native Angeleno. Collins mirrors all that's wrong with the Dodgers: cheap, inexperienced and not of major league caliber. Thank God I've been watching these "games" with the sound on mute. I don't have to listen to him and Lyons spin their positive spin fairy tales of what's occurring on the field.

[RunsWithScissors]

I said it at the end of last season. Jansen should be spending this year in the minors and he should be starting.

The kid has pitched 104 innings in his entire professional career. And he's now the closer? Why haven't the Dodgers learned from their mistakes with Jonathan Broxton?

Like Broxton, Jensen has one good pitch, a major league fastball. His cutter and change are mediocre, and he can't get either pitch over the plate. He has no ability to spot his pitches. If Jensen has to throw a strike, it's fastball down the middle. Everyone knows it's coming, including the batter.

Also like Broxton, Jensen has no move to first. If there is a runner at first, he won't even look over there. Like come on, at least give the runner something to think about instead of completely ignoring him. I'll lay odds we'll see defensive indifference called on Jensen soon.

He's only 23 years old. At 6'6", he's big and strong. He should be in the minors and starting, not so much to be a starting pitcher, but to get in innings and to work on his pitch selection, and learning how to be a pitcher, not a thrower. But give this kid a major league breaking pitch and a major league change, he could be something special.

But instead, he's destined to be Jonathan Broxton's brother from a different mother.

So long as he stays with the big club, we're going to see this kid get beat down by major league hitters and base-runners. It's unfortunate.