Read more: Kenley Jansen settled in with Red Sox, but savors 'beautiful history' with Dodgers Mixing his big-breaking 85.4-mph sweeper with a 93.1-mph cut-fastball, 96.4-mph four-seamer and 95.5-mph sinker, Phillips enters Friday with a 1-4 record and 2.47 ERA in 55 games in which he has struck out 60, walked 11 and allowed only 32 hits in 54⅔ innings. Phillips, who had a 7.50 career ERA for three teams and was released by the Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays before the Dodgers claimed him off waivers in August 2021, has had three months to wrap his head around the challenges and responsibilities of his new job, and he has shown he has the stuff and temperament to handle it.
And definitely don’t take it for granted.” “He didn’t really outright say it, but I think he subtly sent a message saying to hold on tight, because it’s an important job. “He said Dodgers fans love their team, but they’re eager to win, so being in this role means a little more,” Phillips said.
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Jansen closed for the Dodgers from 2012-2021 and was part of nine playoff teams, appearing in 57 postseason games - 11 of them in the World Series - his many successes offset by some notorious turbulence.
Phillips also sought out Jansen, now the Boston Red Sox’s closer, when the Dodgers were in Fenway Park in August. “It's a different animal, but you're already nasty, you're already really good, so don't feel like you have to do anything more than you already do.” “I think the biggest thing in those situations is that the adrenaline is gonna be there, so don't try to overdo it,” said Hudson, who has been out since early July because of a right-knee sprain. To prepare himself mentally for that pressure, Phillips has sought counsel from injured teammate Daniel Hudson, the veteran right-hander who closed for the World Series-winning Washington Nationals in 2019 and pitched the final inning of a 6-2 win over the Houston Astros in the Game 7 of the World Series in Minute Maid Park. “Finishing the game, getting the final three outs, carries a little different weight than it does in the middle of the game.” “Pitching the ninth inning is definitely a different gear that you learn to get into,” Phillips said. Now, Evan Phillips is the Dodgers' unsung hero Read more: Commentary: MLB's worst team didn't want him. The next time he enters a playoff game for the Dodgers, who are on the verge of clinching their 10th NL West title in 11 years as they begin a three-game series in Seattle on Friday night, it will likely be to nail down the final three outs of a win or keep the score tied in the top of the ninth. Phillips made three appearances in the National League division series against the San Diego Padres last October, but he entered in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings of those games. “What I can do to best prepare myself for the postseason is just continue to fine-tune my repertoire, go out there and try to get the best results each and every day, and I think that will naturally carry itself into the postseason.” “You can’t replicate postseason pressure, you can’t replicate that kind of environment, so I think I’ll do the best I can to stay level-headed and focused on what I can do to grow,” Phillips said. Phillips appreciates the team’s low-key handling of his situation because it meshes with his blue-collar approach to the job - he focuses on making pitches and getting outs and doesn’t attach too much significance or value to specific roles.īut it will be impossible for Phillips to fly under the radar come October, when the erstwhile journeyman will enter the playoffs as the closer for the Los Angeles Dodgers, a title that comes with the kind of pressure and expectations that Phillips has never faced in his six-year big-league career. Read more: Dodgers seek bullpen improvements, but not necessarily a designated closer That’s allowed me to kind of settle into this role.” “But things have definitely ironed themselves out quite a bit, in large part due to Ryan Brasier’s ability to pitch the way he has and take down big parts of the order in big moments, along with some of our other mainstays who have done it throughout the year. “I think letting things kind of organically was most beneficial for our group, because it kept my role loose, and I was able to do different things here and there to make sure we had the best opportunity to win a ballgame,” Phillips said. But three months into the season, the Dodgers removed the “de facto” label from Phillips’ title with virtually no fanfare, which was perfectly fine with the unassuming 29-year-old right-hander who assumed the important ninth-inning role that was most recently held by 400-save-club members Craig Kimbrel and Kenley Jansen.
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