Johnathan Broxton has had a nice career so far with the Dodgers. He has made 2 all-star teams (2009 and 2010), had 36 saves with a 2.61 ERA last year and has followed that up with 21 save 3.50 ERA year to date. With his high 90′s fastball and his high 80′s slider he has the tools to be a rock star closer.
Too bad the Phillies do not care what kind of pitcher Broxton is. Ever since game 4 of the NLCS in 2008, the Phillies have literally owned Broxton. That night he gave up the famous home run to Matt Stairs that completely changed to course of the game and series and the Phillies went on to win the series and win the World Series.
Fast forward one year to game 4 of the 2009 NLCS. Jimmy Rollins roped a 2 out double off of a 99 mph Broxton fastball to turn a 4-3 defeat into a 5-4 Phillies victory and eventual series win.
Broxton didn’t pitch in the first 2 games of this recent 3 gamer in South Philadelphia, and it didn’t look like he was going to pitch last night either. With the Phillies trailing 9-2 going into the bottom of the eighth, they created a save situation by scoring 4 runs in the 8th to make it 9-6. Now with all of the Phillies memories looming in his head, Broxton didn’t even have a chance, right? He didn’t pretend, recording 0 outs in route to yet another blown save against the Phils. During the inning, Joe Torre even came for a mound visit. You could blatently read his mouth, saying “do you trust your stuff?”. His answer should have been, not in Philly coach.
Since Matt Stairs blast vs Broxton, he has a 9.82 ERA and is 1-4 in saves vs Philadelphia. Ouch
