The Dodgers’ unexpected find -- closer Javy Guerra
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Closers don’t normally just pop up during the season from the minors, particularly from double A. It’s almost not allowed. They don’t normally come directly from the minors at all, but do some kind of minimal understudy as the set-up guy. It’s a grooming thing.
And then there’s Javy Guerra, the Dodgers’ closer who isn’t. At least not officially.
Yet, there he is, maturing almost by the pitch, throwing better than anyone dared imagine, carrying himself like he’s been at this his entire life.
‘The calmness he shows is what you like seeing late in the game,’ Manager Don Mattingly said. ‘He may be tearing it up on the inside, but you don’t see it on the outside.’
Guerra on Sunday saved his seventh game in as many opportunities, retiring the Washington Nationals in order to lower his earned-run average to 1.99 and preserve a 3-1 victory for Chad Billingsley.
It was a tad less eventful than the last time he saved a game for Billingsley, on July 8, when he loaded the bases with San Diego Padres before pitching out of the self-created jam.
‘That game against San Diego that he gets out of a base-loaded, nobody-out jam, that’s like watching a guy develop right in front of your eyes,’ Mattingly said. ‘Because you can talk about that all you want, but there’s nowhere else to get that, except out there on the field.’
Injuries to Jonathan Broxton, Hong-Chih Kuo and Kenley Jansen may have accidentally led the Dodgers to their new closer, though Mattingly is loath to call Guerra that for fear of burdening the young right-hander with additional pressure.
‘For a rookie, he shows a lot of maturity out there, a lot of composure,’ Billingsley said.
Two months ago, Guerra was the closer at Chattanooga. He had three saves and a 1.06 ERA when the Dodgers called him up May 15. He figured to stay a couple weeks.
‘With young guys coming up, you don’t know what you’re going to get, how they’re going to react,’ Mattingly said. ‘But it’s almost like development right in front of your eyes. And at this level, you can’t buy that experience. You can’t give it to them. You can talk about it all you want, but you don’t get it unless you’ve been out there.’
Guerra, 25, appears to be getting better. He throws four pitches -- fastball, cutter, curveball and a changeup -- and with growing confidence. He hasn’t given up a run in his last six appearances, and given up only three hits (three for 19).
‘Starting from where I did, it’s been a blessing,’ Guerra said. ‘I’m just enjoying every day.’
Guerra just seems to carry himself well on the field. He has a confident demeanor. There will be rough nights ahead for the rookie, but right now he looks like a pitcher who expects to succeed.
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-- Steve Dilbeck