Although Jonathan Broxton has blown only two saves in 12 opportunities since taking over for the injured Takashi Saito in the closer role, the Dodgers have to ask the question after Sunday night's loss at Philadelphia: Can Broxton handle the pressure of closing in the heat of a pennant race?
Broxton came on with a 2-1 lead in the ninth and started missing badly, throwing one pitch so far out of the strike zone that catcher Russell Martin had to lunge to prevent it from going to the backstop. The Phillies wound up tying the game on a two-out, RBI single by Pedro Feliz, who then won it with a three-run homer off Jason Johnson in the 11th. "I was flying out (mechanically)," Broxton said. "It's something I have been doing here lately, and I can't get out of it. I have just hit a little bump in the road, and I'll be out of it here shortly."
Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt, who said Broxton hadn't mentioned any sort of mechanical issue to him, seemed to dismiss any concerns about whether Broxton is capable of closing with a simple statement.
"You have to put somebody in that role," he said.
Dodgers manager Joe Torre reiterated after the game that he never officially bestowed the closer role on Broxton, formerly the club's eighth-inning setup man, after Saito went down with an elbow injury just before the All-Star break. In fact, Torre had said there would be times when others would be called upon in ninth-inning save situations. So far, though, no one else really has been.
"I think everybody is trying to pick each other up," Torre said. "(But) it's certainly different from setting up."
PHILLIES 5, DODGERS 2 (11 innings): Hiroki Kuroda turned in another solid performance Sunday, his 16th quality start of the season and the fourth time in five starts this month that he has allowed only one run while pitching at least six innings. But the Dodgers' offense continued to sputter when it came to run production, stranding 13 baserunners, six of them in scoring position, in a game in which the club had 13 hits and drew five walks.
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