6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog: Janssen Jobs Jays: Dodgers 8, Blue Jays 4

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Thursday, June 21, 2007

Janssen Jobs Jays: Dodgers 8, Blue Jays 4

After the pasting Casey Janssen applied to the Angels last year, I sort of wondered what happened to him that he ended up in the bullpen. As it turned out, that May 17, 2006 game against the Angels was the high-water mark of his ERA as a starter (or low-water, if you want to look at it that way); he kinda rumbled through the rest of the year, finishing with a 6-10 record over 17 starts, with a 5.07 ERA.

The Blue Jays have made a habit of screwing up perfectly usable starters (viz. Kelvim Escobar) by indecisively moving them in and out of the rotation, but in Janssen's case, you could see the concerns were justified. His main problem was sticking around long enough as a starter to even qualify for the win, and so by July 30, the Jays had had enough, and sent him back down to AAA Syracuse.

Janssen pulled himself together in spring training this year and made the team as a reliever with a 1.84 ERA. He improved on even that in the regular season, working his ERA to as low as 0.84 this year (it was 0.95 going into today's game). It was a surprise, then, to see him implode so utterly in this game by giving up six runs, all earned, on five hits without making a single out, thus wasting a terrific outing by starter Shaun Marcum.

That big six-run eighth included a momentum-shifting bases-loaded double by Canadian native Russell Martin, but that just began the fun, as the Dodgers got four straight RBI hits from Olmedo Saenz, Matt Kemp, Tony Abreu, and Rafael Furcal, pummelling the Jays' bullpen. Between Saenz and Kemp, Grady Little even substituted Randy Wolf as a pinch-runner, and he even scored. Don't see that every day.

Chad Billingsley got the start, but being on a strict pitch count, didn't last through four, and so Mark Hendrickson came back to do whatever it is he calls it when he's on the mound and throwing. The Dodgers so made up for his dubious competence that it turned the game into a real laugher late, especially with Broxton and Saito available for their usual roles. It was surely a big confidence-booster for the Dodgers, whose shabby recent road interleague record needs no introduction.

Before leaving, I should also touch on Jeff Kent's two-run sixth-inning homer, his first since June 6. It seems like an afterthought, but he really needs to hit more of those.

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