Live and Die by the Cutter
Kenley Jansen has blown six saves and broken Dodger fans hearts more than that this year. We can analyze until we are paralyzed but in essence, his problem has been the overuse of his cutter, which is still good, but maybe not as good as it used to be. It s also likely that the advanced hitting coaches are helping hitters key in on what he is throwing. Most Dodger fans
Kenley Jansen has blown six saves and broken Dodger fans’ hearts more than that this year. We can analyze until we are paralyzed but in essence, his problem has been the overuse of his cutter, which is still good, but maybe not as good as it used to be. It’s also likely that the advanced hitting coaches are helping hitters “key in” on what he is throwing.
Most Dodger fans have blasted Kenley for not listening to the catcher or coaches and throw sliders or even fastballs more. They have accused him of being stubborn or selfish which is just plain ignorant. Kenley wants to win for himself and for the Dodgers. In his latest meltdown, he threw 8 straight cutters to Rowdy Tellez who blasted the last one over the fence for a home run.
Pedro Moura wrote about that event and that event may be the single most important thing that happened this season. It could be the most important thing that happens all year. How on earth is blowing a save and giving up a home run the “most important thing that happens all year” you might ask?
It’s important because that was the very pitch that changed Kenley’s mind about the use of his cutter. To pitch at an elite level in high-pressure situations you have to have a short memory and supreme confidence. It also helps if you do it with a single pitch that no one can touch. You rely on that. You believe in that. You count on that… and even when it doesn’t work this time, you think it will work next time. That’s the short memory and supreme confidence part of this equation.
In The Athletic Pedro Moura writes about Kenley’s struggles and how this one is different:
By now, Kenley Jansen has learned his lesson. He understands he can no longer afford to throw his cutter over and over. Hitters are more talented and better prepared than they once were. The pitch does not travel as fast as it once did.
Still, sometimes he forgets. Say he throws three consecutive cutters past an opponent, as he did Wednesday in striking out Toronto’s Randal Grichuk. As the next hitter approaches, he finds his mind reverting to its old ways, intoxicated with adrenaline. There’s no need to mix in a slider, he thinks, though his sober self knows otherwise. They can’t handle the cutter, he’s certain.
“You’re like, ‘Fuck, let’s go,’” Jansen said. “But you have to continue to think, to keep mixing it up.”
Jansen did not mix it up to Rowdy Tellez, who followed Grichuk. He threw him eight pitches, all cutters. As soon as Tellez connected with the last, Jansen knew he had made the wrong decision.
The pitch was well located, not quite as high as intended but appropriately inside. Tellez, though, had it timed it perfectly. He golfed it into the right-field bleachers, and Jansen cursed himself on the mound.
That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Many Dodger fans pronounced that Kenley was through and that the Dodgers would not win a World Series with KJ as their closer. Before I knew Kenley had “flipped the script” I wondered if he would make the playoff roster if the struggles kept up.
It’s still a work in progress, but Kenley is going to change. He is changed as we speak. Pedro Moura wrote this after speaking with Kenley:
But Jansen spoke Thursday as a man who had clearly reached a crossroads in his season, in his career, as a closer. After another late-night meeting with Roberts and some self-reflection, he vowed to find more happiness in his job. He believes that vow will make him better.
Kenley said it best:
“A lot of the game is making adjustments. And I can still be so damn good,” he said. “I just gotta be smarter. You can’t fall in love with one pitch. That pitch can be even more nasty if you mix and match. It’s gonna be even harder to hit.”
Kenley knows that if he had thrown a slider in that 8th pitch to Tellez, we would not even be talking about this. When you are in the moment, the adrenaline flowing and you have muscle memory of how you always did it, that’s what you become. Kenley now understands the problem and that’s the first step in fixing a problem: Admitting that there is a problem in the first place.
There may be more hiccups as Kenley learns how to pitch again, but he’s got five weeks and I’m betting that he returns to form by the playoffs. When I see fans calling for a player to be traded or sent to AAA or just off the team, I usually know that the contrarian idea is correct.
- Fans were recently calling for Kike’s head and now he’s getting hot, with 3 hits in his last 4 AB’s.
- Joe Kelly was the focus of the wrath of the fans earlier in the year but has acquitted himself nicely.
- Earlier in the year, CT3 was their whipping boy – now he’s hitting .271.
- AJ Pollock was ridiculed by many (I am not a fan either) but now he’s showing his worth.
- With fans calling for Kenly’s removal as the closer, I predict he will make them eat crow.
The only one they were right about was Austin Barnes, who just simply “lost it.”
Other Dodger News
- The last two starts by Ryu have not been good. His ERA is up to 2.00 and this has cost him his favorite status as the Cy Young Award winner. Don’t count Clayton Kershaw out: He’s the Dodgers real Ace. I have said that all year. I hope Ryu gets past this “bump in the road” but It’s still possible that CK could get his 4th Cy Young. He right up there with the best: Top 5 in the NL and there’s a lot to be decided.
- I give a lot of credit to James Paxton who was filthy. 98 MPH on his fastball and pinpoint control.
- Yimi Garcia has great stuff and has only given up 33 hits in 51 IP while striking out 52. His WHIP is an amazing 0.87. The only problem is that of his 33 hits, 14 have been Home Runs. I think there’s an easy fix here (maybe not this year). He might even be tipping certain pitches, but mark my words, he will be a lockdown reliever next year! Write that down.
- This afternoon, we will find out what Goose is made of as he is called upon to right the ship. There’s no Urias or Hill or Stripling and no May (as he is going to be the 6th starter for a few days). The Dodgers need him to go a strong 6 innings against the best offense in baseball.
- Gavin Lux was 1-4 and is hitting .407 as the season winds down. Can he stay about .400? That’s quite an accomplishment if he does.
- Dennis Santana continues to shine in the bullpen. Last night he pitched 2 innings, allowed 1 hit and struck out 4. He did walk 2 but gave up no runs. He will likely pitch in LA out of the pen next year. His stuff is made for the pen.
- Game at 1:10 PDT; 4:10 EDT. Stay tuned.
Posting Problems
A few of you have continual posting problems, and all of your comments go to “moderation” meaning I have to OK them. This may be hard to believe, but I don’t spend all my time watching the site to see who needs to be moderated. Dirk Calderwald, Cassidy, Idaho Al and a couple of others fall into this category. It is nothing that I can fix, so I am going to suggest that you do this if your comments go into moderation:
- Set up a new account with a new name. For instance, Cassidy could be Cassidy2019.
- Include your e-mail in the setup process (it’s 100% private).
- Choose a new password.
- Then post.
- I have to moderate the first post, but then should not have to do it anymore.
I don’t want to moderate your comments any more than you want me to, so let’s try that.
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Discussion (116)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Gyorko at 1B seriously? Is he actually considered for a post season roster spot? Why not give Beaty a shot at left handed pitching, he did hit lefties in AAA? If the Dodgers are experimenting why experiment with Gyorko, why not Beaty against a lefty? Is Gyorko seriously in our future plans?
Is it just me or does Gonsolin look like the big unit.
Like I posted last night, we needed a good punch in the mouth, and last night was a nasty left hook. This is the first time this season we have faced a team just as good if not better than we are, a mirror image. The Yankees drive up pitch counts(like we do). Their lineup puts constant pressure on the pitcher (like we do). And sooner or later, they break out the big stick and go yard a few times to break the game open.(Sound familiar? Just like us all season). I am really curious to see how we face real adversity for the first time against a really good foe. Will our young guys rise to the occasion and be patient at the plate, or will we try to hit 5 run homers all day? I’m going to go with what Roberts said last night, that besides Paxson being nails on, not a lot of guys on the team have seen him before. Looking for a good rebound game today, hopefully we stay patient and don’t start swinging out of our shoes.
I listened to Nomar the other night. He feels that the weight loss that was necessitated from Kenley’s heart condition could be a contributing factor in the lower velo on his cutter and when he wants more velocity he’s going to have to go to his four seem fastball.
Thx for the info Mark. Hopefully it works!
What the Yankees are saying about Ryu and Dodgers pitching. Hope to see ya in the world series. Maybe Gonsolin will cool em down.
DODGERS RECALL CATCHER AUSTIN BARNES
CATCHER RUSSELL MARTIN PLACED ON BEREAVEMENT LIST
LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers announced that they have recalled catcher Austin Barnes from Triple-A Oklahoma City and placed catcher Russell Martin on the bereavement list.
Barnes, 29, returns to the Dodgers after being optioned on July 25. In 70 games prior to the demotion, he batted .196 (40-for-204) with 10 doubles, five homers and 23 RBI with the Dodgers. He played in 20 games for Oklahoma City, batting .250 (19-for-76) with six homers and 16 RBI. In parts of five Major League seasons with the Dodgers, he has amassed 17 homers and 78 RBI with a .227 batting average.
Martin, 36, has appeared in 69 games for the Dodgers, hitting .207 (36-for-174) with four homers and 15 RBI. On August 7, he delivered his 10th game-ending RBI with a two-run single in the ninth inning against the Cardinals. It was his first walk-off hit in a Dodger uniform since April 21, 2007 against Pittsburgh. The backstop has played in 1,679 games, recording 189 homers and 766 RBI in his 14-year Major League career.
I do not mean to imply that I played ay sport at a high level… because I did not. Basketball was my best sport, but I loved baseball more. I played City League Basketball until I was 42 and baseball and softball until I was 55. When I was 29, I tore the ligaments in my left ankle badly and was unable to dunk after that. However, it took me about three years where adrenaline and muscle memory took over and I still tried. It’s harder to break those habits than you might think.
Another reasoned look at the closer situation from Jon Weisman:
Open on www.dodgerthoughts.comhttps://www.dodgerthoughts.com/2019/08/23/what-does-it-actually-mean-to-demote-a-closer/I love his line “Certainly, the end comes for everyone in baseball, as it comes for us all, but in the name of all that is Juan Uribe, we need to resist assuming the worst at every sign of weakness.”
All is not lost – – we have more than a month to go. The Dodgers remain a good team. As Chet Atkins sang:
“poverty stricken but still i’m stickin’
to things I know to be facts
one day it’s feathers and the next day chicken
while i’m pickin’ my yakety axe”
Let’s keep the faith!!! By the way those uniforms were hideous!!
M.T. There you go telling us how right you are… We Know!!! That’s where we get our insight!!!
Dodger Mom I hope you go to bed early, because the cream really rose to the top at the end of yesterday’s post…
I was going to comment after I got home, but said the heck with it…
– Blue Bit__ slapped… Jeff
– Ryu over his normal range??? William
– Top Award goes to Dodgers dressed like sperm!!! I’ve leave name for you to find out…
I could go on, but I wonder if these folks are coming home early from a crack house or Gentleman’s Club to come up these…
It’s one game folks… Were at about 160 games (including ST) and it’s why us baseball fans call it the Dog Days of Summer…
It’s at times like this that I say, you’re never as good as you look when you’re at your best, and never as bad as you look when you’re at your worst.
I think that these next two games are crucially important. Get swept by the Yankees, and there goes the home field advantage in the World Series, both NY and Houston will have it over us if necessary. But much more important, as I suggested after the game, is that there is a real question as to whether the Dodgers are good enough to beat the very top AL teams. We were outclassed by Boston last year. Are we as good as NYY and Houston this year? Off last night, no.
Certainly, it was just one game. But when your best statistical pitcher gets absolutely hammered, and a guy with fine talent who has been hurt much of the year, absolutely dominates your hitters, it is not a good sign. If we played NY in the Series, and it opened in New York, and it were Ryu vs. Paxton, let’s say, how confident would you be? If that were the matchup twice in the Series? Are our hitters going to hit against Houston or NY in a Series, or are we going to get shut down like last year? More concerningly, will our top three starters navigate the talent-laden lineups they would face? There is nothing comparable in the National League. unless to a much lesser extent the Braves, and we just lost two of three to them.
To me 25 is still young, especially when you add that he wasn’t drafted until 2016. In any case, I’ll just focus on the fact that he is inexperienced.
LA Times article mentioned today that Ryu is up near 155 ip for the year. The last 2 outings, vs. potential NLCS and World Series opponents, he’s given up several HR.
I agree that it’s the perfect time to give him a 10 day vacation somewhere, take a break, chillax his mind, and get re focused for Sept and Oct. He’s been amazing except for 3 starts all year. But perhaps he is a tad winded?
I LOVE that Gonsolin is going today. Let’s see what the not-so-young kid is made of. Today could very well show us that he’s meant for October!
Campy, hopefully you see a W today!
I don’t necessarily think that we find out what Gonsolin is made of today. He’s still a young, mostly inexperienced pitcher with lots more to learn. I just hope he has good stuff and command today. But whatever happens, it won’t convince me one way or the other if he has the right stuff. That conclusion will only come over time.
Yesterday was just probably one of those days. I am a little concerned that the Dodgers have not been as consistent as I’d like with the bats, but I am also reminded that they scored 16?rubs this last Tuesday, and did score a bunch of runs in several other games recently.
Let’s give Paxton some credit for having really good stuff last night, and also remember that he’s a pitcher the Dodgers haven’t seen. I don’t expect the same out of Sabbathia today, as he is no longer the dominant pitcher of we remember from the past.
And maybe Belli and Smith will have extra focus today after a rough time last night. Part of character is being able to bounce back from adversity.
Learning a bit about this site. I have just been entering my name and email address everytime I post. Forgot that I ever had a login with a password.
I’m logged in now, and will not logout after I leave the sight.
Many thoughts about Jansen but for now I hope he can change some things and be the closer the Dodgers need.
I never log in when I post. However, I noticed on the spreadsheet where I keep my login passwords (in code) that I do have a password. Maybe that’s the reason why the browser on my computer remembers me, but does not do so on my phone where I’ve never logged in. Probably have a cookie on my computer, but not on my phone.
Losing a game or a series against the Yankees in August, even by sweep, does not mean anything and does not serve to evaluate a team, in a short series anyone can win it.
The Yankees come from losing their sweep series against Oakland, is the A’s better than the Yankees? Of course not, it means nothing.
Two thoughts on last nights outing by Ryu.
The good news is that I hate ‘Streaks’. Like no home runs all season, or no losses at home, or no missed field goals. It seems those streaks always end in the playoffs. So ok that is over with now.
The second, Is that I feel when a pitcher has a long great streak of starts, then has 2 or 3 in a row where he ‘lacks command, I feel it is not ‘regression’, but a prelude to a trip on the IL. So lets see what happens in the next start.
Well, it’s Kenley until it’s not Kenley. He has to figure it out and make the adjustments. Not exactly like you can pull him from the closer role and hide him in the seventh inning. My guess is he figures it out.
Maybe Paxton had great stuff and Dodger hitters were overwhelmed or maybe the Dodgers are in a little hitting funk. Maybe it was a combination. They didn’t exactly crush mediocre Toronto pitchers in the final two games.
What’s the deal with Ugly Uniform Weekend? The Dodgers and Yankees with iconic uniforms and they have to play in that crap. Some people at MLB need to stop coming up with these dumb ideas. Neither manager was pleased with Dave Roberts making a reference to ugly sweater day.
The sky is NOT falling. It was one freaking game. It is not a coincidence that a lefty had a great game against us. But, that umpire sucked and Paxton pitched the game of his life.
Ryu had a bad game. Skip a start. He’ll be fine. He’ll get a break pretty soon with May, Gonsolin and perhaps Urias available for the rotation. It really seemed like the ump was a Yankees fan last night. Ryu didn’t get anything on the edge and Paxton got a ball inside all night.
Let the Yankees get some false confidence and see how this plays out when the games really count.
I don’t think you’re gonna see another game where Smith and Belli, hitting back to back, combine for 7 Ks.
Quick turnaround with a day game today against another lefty. Let’ see if this is going to be a problem. Mark’s right, Casty would have helped especially against lefties. He just won’t help catching balls in the outfield. He should reconsider a move to 1B.
I still maintain that our lineup needs to be balanced a little better, but it is what it is at this point. Freese will help in a week. His hamstring looked fine two nights ago when he ran out of the dugout to mob Kike.
He has been asked to mix his pitches, we have all seen how he does not obey his catcher and finally throws 8 consecutive cutters and that is not being stubborn ?, Lol, I think the ignorant is another.
Now Moura says that Kenley has accepted that he has to make a change, after a long time of not accepting, even until the last game I still throw 8 consecutive cutters, that shows me that I was right. What will Kenley do from now on? Well, what I said, make a mix, become unpredictable, play cat and mouse with the hitters, etc.
I congratulate Kenley for changing his attitude and showing his willingness to try different things, just what I asked him to do. Thanks Kenley, your own teammates and fans will thank you.
Let’s not do an “In Memorium” for Kenley yet. He is a smart man and will figure it out. He has been through a lot with his medical problems. For some good things about last night, Caleb Ferguson pitched well as he did the night before also, Corey made a nice over the shoulder catch and CT3 and Kike has strong hits. Let us get those damn Yankees today.