CINCINNATI -- All-Star closer Kenley Jansen rejoined the Dodgers on Monday after skipping the weekend series in Colorado as a precautionary measure for his heart condition.
After meeting with doctors late last week, Jansen said he will have a surgical procedure in mid-November like the one he had after the 2012 season. Both procedures were necessitated by an irregular heartbeat episode. In the '12 procedure, Jansen underwent a catheter ablation in the left atrium of his heart to cauterize a damaged area and stop it from generating abnormal electrical signals. He will need three months to recover, but as in '13, expects to be ready for the start of Spring Training.
Jansen said he is on reduced dosage of the medication that made him feel sluggish when prescribed last month. He said he expects to be cleared for games in Denver if the Dodgers play the Rockies in the postseason. Manager Dave Roberts said he was hopeful that would be the case, but it was premature to determine that now.
While Jansen was out, Kenta Maeda and Scott Alexander converted the Dodgers' two save opportunities. Jansen said he followed the games from home, where he felt out of place.
"To be honest, a little boring at home," said Jansen. "I love my wife, I love my kids. But my mind was really with the team."
Worth noting
• Thomas Stripling will start Wednesday's series finale against the Reds as the Dodgers temporarily go with a six-man rotation. Stripling is being inserted to push Clayton Kershaw to Thursday's opener of a four-game series in St. Louis. This will be Stripling's second appearance since returning from nearly a month off with lower back pain. In his only other appearance since returning, Stripling retired one of two batters, the other doubling, in a relief outing Friday night in Colorado.
Roberts said he expects Stripling to go three innings or 45 pitches, so in effect it will be a bullpen game.
• The only reliever that did not warm up during the showdown series in Colorado was Ryan Madson, who presumably was acquired last month for exactly those types of games down the stretch.
Madson, a workhorse, said he is 100 percent healthy and ready to pitch. Roberts said Madson wasn't used because of matchups, and he expected to use the right-hander in one of the first two games against the Reds.
Madson has a career 1.47 ERA and 1.145 WHIP at Coors Field. He has a 4.85 ERA but 1.077 WHIP at Great American Ball Park.