Last night I stumbled across the Dodgers Spring Training game against Seattle on my satellite dish. I found the game on the Mariners feed on FSN Northwest and figured I'd tune in for a bit. The Dodgers were ahead 3-2 in the 6th when I tuned in, and were up 6-4 when I decided it was late and turned the game off in the 8th inning. Little did I know what would transpire in the following inning would cause such a big stir among Dodger fans today.
Broxton came in and promptly gave up four runs and ultimately the game, and looked horrid at doing so. The uproar over one bad outing in a Spring Training game was pretty laughable. Already Dodger fans are expecting the worse from Broxton every time he pitches this year. Next thing you know, Dodger fans will be calling for his head for blowing a game in April!
Let's get one thing clear here: this was just one bad game. The guy hadn't pitched in a week because while on Team USA in the WBC, that idiot USA manager Davey Johnson didn't bother using one of his best relievers when he had opportunities to use him, and so Broxton just sat out there in the pen and became rusty. And I'm not the only one who saw it that way. Joe Torre is giving Broxton a pass because he hadn't pitched in a week. And the good folks over at Sons of Steve Garvey feel the same way, as well.
Obviously, many Dodger fans have one vision of Broxton: giving up the go-ahead three-run homerun to Matt Stairs in the 8th inning of Game 4 of the NLCS last season against Philly on a 3-1 fastball Stairs was looking for that pretty much turned the series around. And, as SoSG suggest, because we as Dodger fans have been spoiled the last six season by the likes of Eric Gagne and Takashi Saito closing out games, anything less than what they did will automatically be dubbed as a complete failure in the eyes of many Dodger fans when it comes to Broxton.
If you read between the lines of Ken Gunick's column on the Dodger pen woes this spring (link above), all hell is breaking lose in the pen, and this could be a concern come the regular season. And because of moronic articles such as that one, and because it is what the fans read and see, aside from maybe the Big Four-Letter Network or The Times, they believe what they read or is said in the media and go with it as their own opinion.
Having said that all that, as much as I do become a little nervous when I see Broxton warming up in the pen to come in and close out a game no matter what the lead or situation is, I'd still take him as my closer any day of the week over most of the other closers around the league. And as I've said in this very space in the past, giving him the closer's job outright will only be a confidence booster for the kid.
Let's lighten up a little on Broxton, folks! Last night was just one game... in Spring Training!
Broxton came in and promptly gave up four runs and ultimately the game, and looked horrid at doing so. The uproar over one bad outing in a Spring Training game was pretty laughable. Already Dodger fans are expecting the worse from Broxton every time he pitches this year. Next thing you know, Dodger fans will be calling for his head for blowing a game in April!
Let's get one thing clear here: this was just one bad game. The guy hadn't pitched in a week because while on Team USA in the WBC, that idiot USA manager Davey Johnson didn't bother using one of his best relievers when he had opportunities to use him, and so Broxton just sat out there in the pen and became rusty. And I'm not the only one who saw it that way. Joe Torre is giving Broxton a pass because he hadn't pitched in a week. And the good folks over at Sons of Steve Garvey feel the same way, as well.
Obviously, many Dodger fans have one vision of Broxton: giving up the go-ahead three-run homerun to Matt Stairs in the 8th inning of Game 4 of the NLCS last season against Philly on a 3-1 fastball Stairs was looking for that pretty much turned the series around. And, as SoSG suggest, because we as Dodger fans have been spoiled the last six season by the likes of Eric Gagne and Takashi Saito closing out games, anything less than what they did will automatically be dubbed as a complete failure in the eyes of many Dodger fans when it comes to Broxton.
If you read between the lines of Ken Gunick's column on the Dodger pen woes this spring (link above), all hell is breaking lose in the pen, and this could be a concern come the regular season. And because of moronic articles such as that one, and because it is what the fans read and see, aside from maybe the Big Four-Letter Network or The Times, they believe what they read or is said in the media and go with it as their own opinion.
Having said that all that, as much as I do become a little nervous when I see Broxton warming up in the pen to come in and close out a game no matter what the lead or situation is, I'd still take him as my closer any day of the week over most of the other closers around the league. And as I've said in this very space in the past, giving him the closer's job outright will only be a confidence booster for the kid.
Let's lighten up a little on Broxton, folks! Last night was just one game... in Spring Training!
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