Broxton Can't Handle the Chooch

Once again, the Dodgers used Jonathan Broxton to try to lock down a game against the Phillies and once again, the Phillies were the ones actually closing things down.

After Carlos Ruiz smashed the double that scored Jayson Werth and Ben Francisco to lock down another dramatic comeback win, he seemed to have a more difficult time surviving the celebratory barrage delivered by his teammates than he did catching up with the pitch from Broxton that Ruiz drove high off the left-centerfield wall. Ruiz was chased down by Phils players between first and second base, after the winning run crossed homeplate, to congratulate him.

Broxton, who has struggled in the second half, has a 10.13 ERA in 8 outings since the All-star break. Philadelphians have no intentions of hiding their growing love for Broxton, whose reputation as a Phillies punching bag gets larger each time he faces them. The implosion marked the third straight season that the Dodgers experienced a memorable collapse to the Phillies with Broxton on the mound.

The first came in game 4 of the 2008 National League Championship Series, when Matt Stairs hammered a huge homerun to give the Phillies a win.

The next instance occured in game 4 of the 2009 NLCS, when Jimmy Rollins capped off another remarkable comeback, by driving home two runs with 2 outs in the 9th inning.

Broxton's troubles on Thursday night began when he hit Placido Polanco with a pitch. He then walked Mike Sweeney and Jayson Werth to load the bases. Ben Francisco grounded a ball through the legs of third baseman Casey Blake, scoring Polanco and Sweeney, and setting the stage for Ruiz's walk-off style heroics.

The Phillies trailed the Dodgers 9-2, entering the bottom of the 8th inning. Rally time began there, as the Phils plated 4 runs to decrease their deficit to just 3, after Jayson Werth, Ben Francisco and Wilson Valdez each got RBI hits.

The win for the Phillies kept the team just 1 game behind San Francisco in the NL wild card chase and 2 games behind Atlanta in the NL East standings.

Bonus notes...

The Phillies' starting pitcher for all 3 Broxton melt downs- Joe Blanton.

On base for Matt Stairs' 2008 HR- Carlos Ruiz.

Scoring the winning run on Jimmy Rollins' walk-off hit in 2009- Carlos Ruiz.

Man who delivered the walk-off hit in 2010- Carlos Ruiz.

_______________________________________

Get down with PhoulBallz.com on Twitter by clicking HERE.

Comments

Jealous Ones Envy

Joe Blanton continues to excel and prove his worth in the Phillies pitching rotation. In his latest outing on Sunday, Blanton threw 8 strong innings, striking out 6, while walking just 1 and surrendering 2 earned runs, improving his record to 7-4. This season in July, Joe is 3-0 over four starts with 22 K's, 5 walks and a 1.21 ERA. Over his last 6 starts, Joe's ERA is 1.94. As a member of the Phillies, Blanton has a 3.84 ERA after the all star break with a 5-0 record. The Phillies are 20-12 (.625 winning percentage) in games that Blanton has started, since being acquired last July. Combined this season against other National League playoff contenders St. Louis, Chicago and Los Angeles, Blanton has a combined 1.67 ERA in 4 starts with a 2-0 record. Blanton is on such a sizzling run that the Bowling Green Hot Rods, a Tampa Bay Rays farm team, will host a Joe Blanton bobble head give away tomorrow. Bowling Green will host Joe's mother, father and sister for the event, as Joe...

Heroes- Fight of the Century

VS. It's a big day for your boy, Jay Ballz . No work, X-Men Origins: Wolverine premieres, our Phillies face the Metropolitans for the first time this season and tailgating for BOTH doesn't sound all that absurd to me. Anyway, I surveyed some qualified phans and got several opinions on how exactly a fight might go down if the mutant hero Wolverine faced off against Phillies hero Matt Stairs. Well known blogger, Chris, of I've Made a Huge Tiny Mistake , kept it real and said the following- "Wolverine has adamantium ( indestructible metal substance) claws, so that's a great advantage. Stairs' Wonder Bat is neutralized there. See, the problem becomes Wolverine's ability to recover (he has a regenerative power) faster. Stairs is merely human. Sure, he has a goatee, and goatees are great, but they're great for saving sauce, not for defeating mutants. I think Wolverine takes it in a fight to the death in about 15 minutes because Stairs simply doesn'...

Sunday School: Phillies History Lesson 71

Gene Kelly was the radio voice of the Philadelphia Phillies from 1950- 1959. Born in Brooklyn NY, Kelly pitched in the minor leagues after graduating from Marshall College in 1941. He would soon experience arm trouble, which ended his playing days. Kelly managed to continue a career in sports by turning to radio. When legendary announcer By Saam, who pulled double duty beginning in 1939 calling both Phillies and Athletics games, moved over to the A's side exclusively, Gene Kelly was the man who would fill the void and took over as the Phillies play-by-play man. The Phillies began broadcasting their games over the air in 1936, but until the 1950's, the broadcasters only attended home games and did not travel with the team. All road games were recreated, on the air, by the announcers who read a Western Union teletype account of the games from the studio in Philadelphia. During the decade of the 50's, Kelly was partnered with several different broadcasters, including Claude Ha...

PhoulBallz.com

Search This Blog