Now the Dodgers stare down at the inevitable

Good night, sweetheart, well, it's time to go …

From the blazing start, to the dimming summer, to a flicker now so faint it requires a microscope to be detected.

The numbers say anything is possible. Right, I've got some numbers for you: The Dodgers are eight games back in the National League West and nine back in the wild-card berth. They have 26 games left to play.

Ready the toe tags. Check for breath on the mirror. Prepare a few last words.

Whatever hope the Dodgers clung to vanished into the Chavez Ravine night on Saturday, when the Giants completed a stunning -- yet somehow predictable -- ninth-inning comeback.

With the Padres suddenly acting like a team that can't win, a final -- if weak -- opportunity unexpectedly presented itself.

Not a great opportunity -- the Dodgers still have three teams to climb over in their division and four in the wild card -- but a flicker of opportunity.

Then Dodgers had a 4-2 lead in the eighth when manager Joe Torre turned the game over to his bullpen.

First he called on Octavio Dotel, who immediately gave up a solo home run to pinch-hitter Pat Burrell. Then he gave up a one-out walk to Freddy Sanchez.

If Dotel -- who has a 4.46 ERA as a Dodger -- gets out of the eighth cleanly, Torre doesn't have to call on Hong-Chin Kuo and he can use him to close.

If George Sherrill was reliable, Torre calls on him to face left-handed hitting Aubrey Huff.

But Dotel didn't do his job, and Sherrill too seldom has. So he went to Kuo, who had also pitched Friday.

Kuo retired his two batters, but with his fragile elbow, Torre wasn't going to bring him back to pitch the ninth.

"Once I used him in the eighth, it took him out of the closer's role," Torre said.

Now what to do?

In his bullpen, Torre had former closer Jonathan Broxton, Ronald Belisario and Kenley Jansen.

Since returning from his unexplained five-week absence, Belisario has a 13.00 ERA. Jansen is a rookie who has appeared in 14 games and barely been pitching for over a year.

So he went to Broxton.

"For who was available to us, I felt he was still a no-brainer for me to put out there in that situation," Torre said.

Except that Broxton has been a mess now for over two months. He looks tentative, uncertain. Like he's mentally checked out.

The choices weren't great, but I'd rather have taken my chances with the kid. Broxton predictably gave it up, and the Dodgers' last gasp seemed to have arrived.

Ready the taps. The end is at hand.

-- Steve Dilbeck

Comments

[Since '58]

Torre had no options? He's a slave to the pitch count. I don't think the 93 pitches thrown by Lilly was enough to lift him, especially in light of the effectiveness of the bull pen lately. As soon as he was gone, I knew we had lost the game. At least give him the opportunity to start the eighth, then you'd possibly have Kuo for the ninth. Broxton didn't even deserve to be in the All Star Game. He was barely effective in his first half saves. He rarely had pitched a 1-2-3 ninth up to that point. He had expressed his new pitching "philosophy" as "pitching to contact." Why does a big, hard-throwing "closer" want to do that? Doesn't he want to be aggressive and strike guys out? If it weren't for two great defensive plays, he would have blown the All Star Game too.

[mti312]

I agree with all the posters. Torre's wrong decisions must have cost the Dodgers more than 10 wins this season. It's been that kind of year. They don't seem to have a leader. Didnt Torre say he was going to make a decision in Sept? What's he waiting for?
Team assessment:
Kuo > Broxton
Gibbons > Podsednick
Barajas > Martin or Ausmus or Ellis
Wallach > Torre
Ethier lost his mojo
Loney needs to use one of those iRenew for balance
Dodgers need to get rid of:
Joe Torre
McCourts
Honeycutt
Russell Martin
Belisario
Troncoso
Not given up on:
Broxton - he's a better 8th inning reliever
Kemp
Loney
Ethier
Furcal
Padilla
Lilly
Keepers:
Billingsley
Kershaw
Kuo
Gibbons - bench player
Vin Scully
Tommy Lasorda
Mariano Duncan - love his attitude

[Since '58]

Mea culpa, mea culpa. Between last night and this morning, I forgot that Lilly did, indeed, start the eighth inning. I still believe Torre's hook was too swift given what he has to work with in the "pen." Again, my apologies for a senior moment.

[These Dodgers Suck!!]

there's a freedom that comes with failure ,,,
(just ask the Cubs and Mets)
so these Dodgers can look forward to playing loose this month as they play the role of spoiler!

[alanw19]

Since '58

No problem - your sage wisdom earns you that pass easily.

Keep giving 'em hell.

[Ed Campos]

In agreement here!

[Terry Crow]

With each passing day I understand more and more why the Yankees made it so difficult for Torre to stay as manager. It is time for him to retire.

[rodney gierasch]

Watching Tore give the bal to Broxton in a pressure situation is enough to make a grown man cry. I'n crying. Let Joe sleep in his retirement, I beg you , God.