It probably is way too early to discuss the possibility of Jonathan Broxton replacing Takashi Saito as the Dodgers closer. But what happened Wednesday was a glaring reminder that the discussion will eventually, one day down the road, have to take place.
With the Dodgers nursing a tenuous 1-0 lead, the flame-throwing Broxton blew away three consecutive Cubs batters in the eighth inning, each one of them going down swinging on a total of 13 pitches. Saito then came on for the ninth, had no command, walked two of the first three batters and wound up giving up the tying run on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly by Geovany Soto. Saito has blown three saves in 11 chances this season. He also is 38 and a finesse pitcher who doesn't have typical closer's stuff. Broxton is 23 and absolutely has typical closer stuff, but there is a question as to whether he is mature enough at this stage of his career to handle a role most in the organization assume will eventually be his anyway.
Throughout his first two seasons as the Dodgers' closer, Saito was more or less lights out, converting 63 of 69 save chances. This year, he has been solid, but not that solid.
Saito has battled a flu bug and a calf injury this season, and those might have been contributing factors to his relative unreliability. But this time, as he readily admitted after the game, there was nothing to blame it on but a lack of command.
CUBS 3, DODGERS 1 (10 innings): Derek Lowe turned in arguably his best effort of the season, pitching seven shutout innings in which he limited the potent Cubs lineup to four hits. But, as usual, the Dodgers offered little in the way of offensive support, going hitless in five at-bats with runners in scoring position and scoring their only run on a bases-loaded walk by Blake DeWitt against Carlos Zambrano. The Dodgers have lost five of six, scoring either one or zero runs in each of those five losses.
