More Broxton drama

Was there every any doubt?

Up 4-3 and looking for the save in the ninth, Jonathan Broxton did was he does best: blow it again. Without getting any support from the gloves behind him, the Marlins rallied late to take the victory, 5-4. It was Broxton's first blown save of the season after five straight saves to open the year.

Before the late-inning meltdown, the Dodgers battled back from deficits twice. Jon Garland got the start, and Chris Coghlan opened the scoring by hitting a solo homer with two outs in the third.

To start the fourth, Jamey Carroll singled to center. Andre Ethier took a walk to put two on. Matt Kemp was just the right guy to step up to the plate, but he grounded into a double play. The only positive was that Carroll scampered to third and came in to score on Jerry Sands's RBI single to tie the game at 1.

Coghlan would again strike with a longball to lead off the bottom of the sixth. The guy showed some good power for only having 18 career home runs. Those would be the only blemishes of the night for Garland, as he put together seven innings for four hits, two runs, one walk, and two strikeouts. It's his second consecutive great start, as his ERA has gone from 11.25 to 3.60 in that short span.

The Dodgers used the next two innings to give their bullpen a chance to protect the lead. In the seventh, Rod Barajas struck out leading off, but reached on a wild pitch. Tony Gwynn came into pinch-run (slight difference of speed). Ivan DeJesus singled, and Garland sacrificed them both over to scoring position. A groundout by Aaron Miles and single by Carroll later, and the Dodgers now had the 3-2 lead.

In the eighth, Matt Kemp hit a long double to left to start. After going to third on a groundout, he scored on James Loney's RBI single to go up 4-2.

Once Garland exited, the Dodgers' bullpen woes were soon in the spotlight. With Hong-Chih Kuo out, and with Kenley Jansen and Matt Guerrier both lit up recently, Vicente Padilla was given the chance for a hold. Well, he got the hold, but it wasn't exactly pretty.

Padilla walked Scott Cousins right off the bat. That damn little Coghlan singled to continue his superb night to put a couple on. Omar Infante foolishly tried to bunt for a hit and instead got Cousins forced at third. Gabby Sanchez then hit a sharp grounder off of Padilla's leg and through for an RBI single to make it 4-3.

Now came in Mr. Broxton. Like usual, when things are going well, he's really good. When he does even the slightest thing wrong, everything goes to Hell. He started off by striking out Greg Dobbs and getting John Buck to ground to first. Then up came Emilio Bonifacio, who has a career one home run. How would Broxton pitch to him after a 2-2 count? Carefully. In fact, too carefully, as he walked him.

And just like that, everything went crazy. Hanley Ramirez pinch-hit and laced a single to put runners on the corners. Cousins then grounded a slow one to Carroll, who promptly let it go right underneath his glove while charging in, scoring the tying run. Coghlan was given the intentional pass to pitch to Infante. Infante lined one to Sands in left that sailed over his head to end the game.

Simply put, the ninth inning was a disgrace. It's hard to imagine just how the Dodgers lost so much focus in such a short amount of time. It all started with Broxton's walk to a guy who can barely hit a fly ball to the outfield. Then the defense fell apart. Would Carroll have made the play at first? It would've been close, but we'll obviously never know.

Still, Broxton deserves plenty of blame for this. When the going gets tough, he goes into his little shell. He just cannot make the big pitches when needed. Have I said this before? Yes, like a hundred times. But I guess Don Mattingly is determined to keep him in this role. Sad, but it's the way it is.

At least the Dodgers can take some satisfaction that without the resurgent Casey Blake and Juan Uribe, they still had a chance to win. It was good to see them mount a couple of comebacks. But these are games that need to be finished out with a win. It's really that simple.

The Dodgers will hand the ball to their #1, Clayton Kershaw, on Tuesday. He'll be opposed by Chris Volstad.