Jonathan Broxton is shut down another three weeks and Don Mattingly says getting him back this year would be a bonus

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Yet more evidence the Dodgers roll on per usual, bankruptcy or no:

Jonathan Broxton, thought to be ready to return this weekend, has been shut down for another three weeks after his elbow flared up again. Presumably, the bone bruise became irritated.

Things are so bad with Broxton, Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly said if the right-hander pitches again this season, he would consider it a bonus.

Sans Broxton -- and Vicente Padilla, and for a month Hong-Chih Kuo -- the Dodgers have tried something of a closer-by-committee routine, although rookie Javy Guerra has emerged as Mattingly’s current late-season choice.

Kuo and Kenley Jansen are now back from injuries, so Guerra (1-0, 2.35 ERA two saves in 15 1/3 innings) probably will be watched closely. He was pitching at double A a month ago.

It would be easier to find some sympathy for Broxton if he used the off-season following his dismal 2010 second half as motivation to come back to camp more determined and in better shape.

Alas, he was just as big a boy as the last time he was seen. That would be during the second half of 2010 when he sported a 7.13 ERA and lost his closer’s job to Kuo. This season, Mattingly immediately reinserted him as his closer. Thus far on the season, Broxton is 1-2 with a 5.68 ERA and seven saves.

Broxton went on the disabled list May 6 because of the sore elbow, his velocity seriously impacted. He is, by the way, a free agent at the end of the season.

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Photo: Dodgers reliever Jonathan Broxton is booed as he walks off the field during the ninth inning of a 4-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs on May 3. Credit: Gus Ruelas / Associated Press