One day after I got done praising Jonathan Broxton, he then raised his ERA by nearly 4 runs. It was the nightmare inning the Dodgers could not afford to have.
Hiroki Kuroda pitched out of his mind, but it was not enough as Broxton was bombed for 6 runs in only 0.1 IP as the Dodgers lost to the Astros, 8-5. Yes, that would mean the Dodgers just got swept... AGAIN.
It's really hard to imagine how this game went from so good to so bad in such a little amount of time. It sure looked like the Dodgers were going to at least even up the homestand for much of the game. James Loney put them on the board first with a 2-run shot in the 1st inning for a quick lead. It was scoreless after that until the 7th.
In the 7th, Kuroda finally lost his no-hit bid when Hunter Pence singled with 2 down. After a walk to Ty Wiggington, Joe Beimel relieved and walked Geoff Blum. Broxton then came in and walked Mark Loretta to force in a run. Michael Bourne hit one to deep center that was caught to end the inning.
Blake DeWitt came up big again when he doubled to lead off the bottom of the 7th, then scored on a Kaz Matsui error with Delwyn Young hitting. The Dodgers were up 3-1 going into the 8th with their main setup man in. My oh my did the bottom fall out for them. Broxton had about his worst outing ever. The inning started with 5 straight singles, and a stolen base, another single, double, and sac-fly later, the close game was blown wide open.
The Dodgers actually scored a couple in the bottom of the 9th, but it was too little, too late. Who knows if it could have been more if Bourne didn't make a fantastic catch off of the bat of Andruw Jones. Probably wouldn't have mattered, though.
This week summarizes the Dodgers in a nutshell. They can play very well, and then tank out of nowhere. I said all along during their winning streak that their lack of home run power will cost them, and it has. Well, that and some shoddy pitching along the way. Face it, they're going to have a hard time winning big games by scoring all of their runs by hitting singles. That's why the Jones signing has been the biggest disappointment of the year.
It's an off day on Monday, which they need, and then off to Milwaukee for 3. Brad Penny, Derek Lowe, and Chad Billingsley will look to redeem themselves after poor starts this week. That's not going to be easy to do against a team like the Brewers and players like Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun. We shall see what happens.
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