Broxton Ain't This Bad, Phillies Fans

Carlos Ruiz took a hard slider from Dodgers' closer Jonathan Broxton and shot it on one big hop off the wall in left-center field in the 9th inning at Citizens Bank Park last night. Jayson Werth easily scored the tying run, and right on his heels was Ben Francisco with the winning run as the Phillies rallied from 9-2 down entering the bottom of the 8th and 9-6 entering the 9th to defeat LA by a 10-9 score.

As all Phillies fans (and Dodgers fans) are well aware of by now, this latest incredible late rally to overcome Broxton and the Dodgers is not the first time that it has happened, not by a long shot.

Flashback #1: October 13th, 2008: National League Championship Series game four in Los Angeles. The Phillies are leading by 2 games to 1, but the Dodgers are winning by 5-3 after 7 innings and appear ready to wrap up the 4th game to tie the series, with the next one on their home turf as well. But in the top of the 8th, Shane Victorino rips a 2-run homer off reliever Cory Wade to suddenly tie the game. When Carlos Ruiz follows with a single off Wade, manager Joe Torre goes to his bullpen and calls on big flame-throwing Jonathan Broxton to shut the Phils down. Phils' manager Charlie Manuel counters with the free-swinging veteran lefty pinch-hitter Matt Stairs, who blasts what turns out to be a game-winning 2-run homer off Broxton. The Phils wrap up the series the following day.

Flashback #2: October 19th, 2009: Stop me if you think you've heard this all before. National League Championship Series game four, this time in Philly. The Fightin's are again leading by 2 games to 1, but again the Dodgers lead late, and this time it seems that time is about to run out for the Phillies. There are two outs with two runners on base as shortstop Jimmy Rollins steps in against Broxton. One more out and the Dodgers tie the series up. Instead, Rollins turns on a Broxton fastball and shoots it up the right-centerfield gap, splitting the outfielders. Both runners score as the Phillies and their delirious fans at Citizens Bank Park celebrate yet another miracle over Broxton and the Dodgers. The Phils blitz LA two nights later and advance to the World Series for the 2nd straight season.

So all that leads up to last night's dramatics, which are only slightly less incredible due to the stakes being a bit lower in a regular season matchup as opposed to a pivotal playoff game. But for the 2010 Phillies, every win is important as they attempt to maintain some momentum and stay close to the front-running Atlanta Braves while waiting for their numerous injured players to recover. The Braves were off on this Thursday night, and as the Phils entered their half of the 8th trailing by that 9-2 margin it appeared as if a loss was about to sink them to 3 games back in the NL east division race.

They put together a little rally and closed the gap to 9-6, and still down by that margin as they came to the plate in their half of the 9th there was some hope. Torre again called on his big closer Jonathan Broxton. Now at this point, some Phillies fans who don't know better might be asking "Why?" Well, as it turns out, Broxton is really good at what he does. He does everything you want a closer to do, from giving up fewer hits than innings pitched, to striking out more than a batter per inning, to striking out about 3 hitters for every walk allowed. His fastball comes in at a consistent 96-98mph, he saved 36 games a year ago and has 21 more already this year. He is the prototypical big armed closer that every team loves to have.

Jonathan Broxton is good, Phillies fans. Joe Torre knows it, and didn't hesitate to call on his big horse of a closer once again to try and finish the Phillies off last night.

When Broxton grazed Placido Polanco's jersey to put the leadoff man aboard, the crowd remembered, and rose to roar and remind Broxton. An epic battle followed with newcomer Mike Sweeney, who worked a walk on a full count pitch. Jayson Werth then walked fairly easily, with Broxton appearing to come more unnerved as each pitche missed the strike zone. At one point, Torre went to the mound and clearly asked his closer "Due you trust your stuff?". He must have gotten the right answer at the time, because he left the clearly struggling pitcher in the game.

So with the bases loaded, Broxton induced Ben Francisco to bounce a ground ball to 3rd baseman Casey Blake. It appeared to be a relatively easy double-play grounder, the kind the Dodgers closer would happily trade a Phillies run for in order to get the two outs. But instead of two outs and a 9-7 lead, all hell broke loose for the Dodgers closer - again. Blake anticipated the ball's bounce, and somehow it stayed down on him, rolling under his glove and into left field as both Polanco and Sweeney scored to cut the lead to 9-8. Oh, and there was still nobody out.

Werth was now the tying run at 2nd base and Francisco was the game-winner at 1st as catcher Carlos Ruiz stepped into the batter's box. Ruiz has begun to put together a nice little season for himself as he has developed fully into an integral part of the Phillies' lineup, and has also fashioned himself a well-deserved reputation as a clutch hitter. That the Phillies announcers even considered the idea that Manuel would have Ruiz bunt the runners over was ludicrous, but they said it anyway.

There would be no bunting from the Phillies catcher. On a 1-1 pitch, Broxton unfurled a hard, low slider, and Ruiz was right on it, driving it deep into the left-centerfield power alley where it one-hopped high off  the wall. Werth held up momentarily to ensure that the ball wouldn't be caught, and so as he romped home with the tying run there was Francisco flying on his heels with the winner. The Phillies rushed from their dugout and mobbed the heroic "Chooch" as the half of the crowd that hadn't left early erupted in pandemonium all around them.

For the Dodgers and Jonathan Broxton it was yet another disastrous, epic meltdown for the ages. How many disastrous meltdowns for the ages can one team and one pitcher have against any one other ball club anyway? While rightfully celebrating a great victory, the Phillies and their fans simply cannot hope that they will continue to catch Broxton like this in key moments of big games. He is simply too good, too talented, to allow this to keep happening.

Black Friday

For the first time in 15 years our Philadelphia Phillies are preparing to play in the National League Championship Series (NLCS). The Fightin' Phils have been here six times previously, all of them in my own lifetime as a fan. In their glory run from 1976 through 1980, the period covering most of my teenage years, the Phils played in the NLCS 4 times out of 5 seasons. In that 1977 season the Phillies won 101 games, their 2nd straight NL East crown, and there were many in baseball who felt the Phils had the best team in baseball. Standing in the way of a trip to the World Series were the NL West champion Los Angeles Dodgers. The two teams each had tremendous players. The Phillies were led by sluggers Greg Luzinski and Mike Schmidt, pesky shortstop Larry Bowa, and lefty starter Steve Carlton. The Dodgers had a longtime infield of Stever Garvey, Davey Lopes, Bill Russell, and Ron Cey as well as slugging outfielders Reggie Smith and Dusty Baker. Their rotation was led by future Hall of Famer Don Sutton. The two clubs split the first two games out in LA, and so the Phils returned home needing to win 2 out of 3 at Veteran's Stadium to advance to their first World Series in 28 years. And then baseball catastrophe struck. What is perhaps recognized as the single most devastating loss in Phillies history played out in what has become known in local sports legend as 'Black Friday'. The Dodgers scored first, with Baker and catcher Steve Yeager each driving in runs in the top of the 2nd for an early 2-0 Dodgers lead off Phils starter Larry Christenson. Then came the bottom of the 2nd, and a Philly legend was born. With two outs and two runners on-base, Hooten began disputing ball and strike calls with the umpire, something that can often get a player ejected from a game. His antics became so annoying that the fans began to boo him vociferously. The Phils fans literally booed Dodger starter Burt Hooten (pictured) off the mound, unnerving the LA hurler into issuing 4 consecutive walks that put the Phillies up by 3-2. The Dodgers tied the game up in the top of the 4th on another rbi hit by Baker, and the two teams then stayed that way into the bottom of the 8th, when the Phils seemingly took control thanks to the hitting and baserunning hustle of Garry Maddox who knocked in one run and scored another. The Phils took a 5-3 lead into the 9th and turned the game over to reliable closer Gene Garber, and Garber quickly recorded the first two outs. As Garber got to an 0-2 count on weak-hitting Vic Davalillo, the Vet crowd stood and roared in anticipation of their heroes going up by 2 games to 1, and needing just one more win to reach the World Series. But it never happened. On that 0-2 pitch, Davallio shocked the entire stadium, including the Phillies, by laying down a perfect 2-strike bunt for a base hit. Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda then went to a pinch-hitter, 39-year old veteran Manny Mota, and Mota sent a fly ball back towards the left field wall. The ball was obviously not going to be a homerun, and in fact outfielder Jerry Martin would usually have tracked the ball down easily. Unfortunately, for some unknown reason, Martin was not in the game. It was standard procedure for Phils manager Danny Ozark to put Martin in as a late-game defensive replacement for Luzinski. But again, for some unknown reason, Ozark didn't make that move. And so as Mota's ball sailed towards the left field wall, it was the defensively deficient Luzinski who tried to make the play. He appeared to track the ball down right at the wall, but it somehow popped out of his glove and he trapped it against the wall for a missed catch. Luzinski turned and fired the ball to 2nd baseman Ted Sizemore, trying to nail Mota, who was hustling all the way, but more adventures then ensued as Sizemore mishandled the throw, allowing the ball to bounce away. Davallilo scored and Mota moved on to 3rd base, miraculously making it a 5-4 lead with the tying run now just 90 feet away from home. 2nd baseman Lopes stepped to the plate and ripped a smash grounder right at Schmidt, who had no time to react as the ball carromed hard off his knee and into the air, going straight into the bare hand of shortstop Bowa. In that one motion, Bowa fielded the ball and fired a strike to 1st base for the final out. Only it still didn't happen. Lopes was ruled safe by the umpire on the bang-bang play, even though he clearly appeared to have narrowly been thrown out, and TV replays supported that outcome. Mota scored the tying run and the enraged Phils protested, but it was to no avail. Garber tried to pick-off the speedy Lopes, but continued the Phils nightmare by throwing the ball away wildly, allowing Lopes to move into scoring position, where Russell then singled him home, putting the Dodgers up by 6-5. It was an incredible turnaround, and when the Phillies went down in order in the bottom of the 9th, the stunned Vet crowd didn't even have the energy to wonder what had just happened. The Dodgers celebrated their victory, and one night later they won the series by beating Carlton in a game sullied by rain. The Dodgers moved on to the World Series against the Yankees, and the Phillies and their fans were left with the memory of the most emotionally draining loss in what has been a franchise history full of them. It is known simply as 'Black Friday' now, and we still look back on it in astonishment, with the passing of three decades of time only numbing but never erasing the painful memory. The Phillies and Dodgers will meet now in the 2008 NLCS. It will be the 4th time that this matchup has decided the National League champs, after the Dodgers won previously in both that 1977 season and again in 1978, while the Phils won in 1983. And somewhere along the way you can expect the TV networks to dig up the old footage of Luzinski, Davalillo, Mota, Garber, Schmidt, and Bowa and the worst loss in Phillies history.