Dodgers News: Kenley Jansen Provides an Update on Status of Ankle Injury
Last night Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen took a line drive off of his ankle as he recorded the first out of a save opportunity. After, madness ensued, and subsequently some quotes from Kenley about the outing were making the rounds. As for the health update of his ankle today, Bill Plunkett reports:
#Dodgers Kenley Jansen says his ankle feels better today but joint is still swollen and difficult to flex. Doesn’t expect to be available tonight
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) July 17, 2019
While his ankle feels better, he doesn’t expect to be available tonight. No word yet on whether a stint on the injured list may be required.
Jansen continues to feel remorse for staying in the game. As already noted in a previous post about this, his foot/ankle went numb, and he was having trouble covering home on an RBI single. He added more about the situation with Pedro Moura of The Athletic,
I couldn’t even go home no more, I was just all arm.
Manager Dave Roberts touched on the outing and the conversation with his closer,
He assured me that he was fine, that he felt it but it was not gonna compromise his arm or anything like that. He said he felt good and wanted to keep going.
When Kenley, as a guy that’s been around many times, feels like he can keep going and feels he’s not compromising himself for the team, then I gotta trust that.
But that was before Roberts had heard Jansen’s comments after the game. On Wednesday before the game, Doc expressed frustration.
I think I do a very good job of being honest with our guys. We’re all trying to win. We’re all trying to compete. That goes without saying. But when you give certainty that you’re not compromising yourself or the team then I’m going to trust it.
To then go back and say, ‘I should have come out of the game’ — it’s a little bit tough to swallow.
As it is, do not expect to see Kenley pick up a ball tonight as he rests his ankle.
Rest Is Best
As detailed in a previous article, Kenley Jansen is way more effective when he is rested. So it’s not a big deal that he’s unavailable, especially since his injury is fairly minor and cured easily with a few days rest.
Sometimes pain can drive home a lesson as well as success. From his own words, he should have come out last night after the injury. The Dodgers should hope that this could really help Kenley’s mindset, because using your ego to rest on when you don’t have you best stuff isn’t always the best way to go. Healthy ego is what gets these elite athletes here, but unhealthy ego can hurt more than an ankle injury.
IMHO, Jansen most likely would not pitch in today’s game anyway. Reason is simple. Dodgers most likely won’t be in a need for closer situation because Maeda is pitching and as I correctly predicted he would allow at least 2 HR’s by the 4th inning against Boston, he certainly will allow a few in the hitter friendly Philly park here. I still cannot get over the fact that Dodgers hit 5 HR’s in last night’s game but still lost. But those reasons for this loss have been covered well enough.