Hot off the presses: A Jonathan Broxton sighting

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

I swear this is absolutely true. I saw Jonathan Broxton in a Dodger uniform Wednesday night.

He lives! He breathes! He watches a lot of baseball.

Alas, playing baseball has become somewhat of problem. Broxton cannot get into a game. It’s like he’s been banished to baseball Siberia and the Dodgers forgot to announce it.

In the Dodgers’ first 27 games, he has exactly one save. One digit. One itty-bitty save.

Giants left-hander Jeremy Affeldt is a set-up guy and has two saves. Thirty-one pitchers in the major leagues have more saves than Broxton.

And this is one of the most dominating closers in baseball. He had 36 saves last season and was an All-Star.

But the Dodgers can’t get him the ball. Not with the game on the line, which should tell you all you need to know about the way their season has started.

‘We just have to keep our heads up and continue to play hard, and hopefully things will work out,’ Broxton said.

Last year in the month of April, Broxton was 2-0 with seven saves in 10 games. Right now, he’s 1-0 with that one save. He’s blown one save opportunity.

His one teeny-weeny save is the only one the Dodgers have, which naturally ranks them last in the major leagues. They have one of the game’s best weapons and can’t use him. A howitzer without a trigger.

Manager Joe Torre claims Broxton is handling all this inactivity well, but how would anyone really know?

‘Broxton knows himself a little better after last year, his first as a fulltime closer,’ Torre said.

‘We’ll get him out there when it’s been long enough.’

As it is, he hasn’t pitched in five days. At some point, you have to worry about him staying sharp. Broxton said he’s fine.

‘You have to be prepared every game,’ Broxton said. ‘You never know when you’re going to come out of a slump.’

Or even when you’re going to get in a game.

-- Steve Dilbeck