Jones to DL, maybe rehab? And Dodgers' protest denied
Andruw Jones has irritation of the patellar tendon in his right knee, something manager Joe Torre said has nothing to do with the surgery he had there earlier this season. There is a chance he could be placed on the DL tomorrow to make room for Nomar, who is expected to be activated. That almost certainly would mean Jones going on a minor-league rehab assignment at some point, which could only help him and couldn't possibly hurt him. If Dodgers officials ever asked him to go down and work on his swing when he wasn't hurt, they aren't admitting it. But this would provide the perfect chance to get him to the minors for a few days ... assuming, that is, they do it quickly. The minor-league season ends the first week of September. ... The Dodgers' protest of last Wednesday night's game in St. Louis was officially denied today by the commissioner's office. It goes in the books as a loss. But again, that was the result club officials fully expected, so this really isn't much of a story.
Jonathan Broxton is NOT a closer.
THH,
I respectfully disagree. Jonathan Broxton is a closer, and will get better with time. No doubt he could use another pitch. Torre mentioned that he needs to gain confidence in his splitter and begin using it in games. We probably won't begin seeing that pitch this year, but eventually (probably next year) we will. And in looking at tonights pitching line, Broxton threw 33 pitches, 26 for strikes. And the hits by Victorino and Utley weren't exactly screaming line drives.
As is often the case, the Dodger offense scored early, and then as they are wont to do, they shut it down for the rest of the game, except for a measly 8th inning run, when they had the opportunity to put the Phillies away. Instead they left the door open for a rally to a team perfectly capable of creating one.
Dude, relax. He's 24 and he's already one of the elite set-up men in baseball. So he's not ready to make the jump to closing domination as a 24-year-old, not a big deal. And he may look shaky, but he's only blown 1 (I think) while actually in the role, which shows much improvement from when he got the job last year.