HE BROKE THE BROXTON

Way to go Slingblade. The season’s over, even Saito has been breached, and you continue to trot out Broxton in a no-win situation? Are you trying to ruin the kid? It’s his first full season in the majors, and everybody from Washington to West Adams knows he’s lost something on his fastball. He’s thrown a record number of innings. But no amount of failure persuades Forrest to abandon any of his pitchers. He did this with Tomko, who merely sucked; he does it with Hernandez, who’s old; and now he’s doing it with Broxton, who is clearly overworked.

Message to Forrest: you’ve got fifty or sixty minor leaguers just chomping at the bit to get big league experience. How about we see some Jon Meloan? Give Stults some work. Houlton? Hull? It would be nice to know if these guys have major league arms, and when better to find out than in meaningless September games?

Broxton needs to be shut down now before he loses all his confidence. The kid was lights out for five months of the season. It’s only now that he’s been overworked that he’s proved mortal. His ERA has gone up by almost a full run since September 1. Does that not tell you anything? Please please please shut him down for the rest of the season. We don’t want to screw up next year as well.

PLAYOFFS!!??

I bought a ticket package for the first time this year, thinking I'd be in line for playoff seats. Of course, the Dodgers then went about losing 11 of the 14 games I purchased. Forget playoffs. I'd settle for .500 at this point.

Did anybody else notice how Vin had already thrown in the towel on this team even before the second game ended? In the promo for Dodger playoff tickets, he could barely hold his astonishment that the Dodgers were seriously asking people to throw in for playoff tickets at this stage.

To be honest, I don't really understand why 4 million people go to Dodger Stadium each year. When I go to games, I'm usually surrounded by people who cheer loudly for every medium-deep fly ball as if it were a homer, and don’t really understand baseball.

Worst of all, they boo opposing players who once wore Dodger uniforms, no matter how the player left the team. Like Piazza. The Dodgers traded him because they didn't want to pay him. Or LoDuca. He cried when that idiot Depodesta traded him away. Shawn Green too. All he ever did was hand out his batting gloves to some lucky kid whenever he hit a homer, and now he gets booed?!

Baseball knowledge is nowhere to be found at Chavez Ravine. There seems to be more interest in the video board GM car race, the hidden ball game, the trivia, and the moronic wave than in what's happening in the game. People arrive late and leave early. They seem not to mind $12 beers, lousy hot dogs, long lines for soggy fries, and baking hot afternoon affairs.

I’m tempted to suggest that fans speak with their wallets, but I believe real baseball fans are grossly outnumbered by people who go to the game because it seems like a nice thing to do on a summer’s eve. Which it is. But when you’re selling 4 million tickets a year for a team that’s barely above .500, what’s management’s incentive to improve the product?