By Tony Jackson ESPNLosAngeles.com And this is the closer for a team that still fancies itself a playoff contender? There was a time, of course, when Torre's loyalty to Broxton stemmed from the fact there really wasn't anyone else, especially when former setup man George Sherrill got off to such a rough start to the season that he became, well, a former setup man. But now, that has changed. For one, there is Hong-Chih Kuo, the fireballing current setup man who also made the All-Star team and whom Torre apparently no longer has any qualms about using on consecutive days (he did it for just the second time this season), bringing in Kuo to face lefty-hitting Raul Ibanez with two on and two outs in the seventh inning. Kuo got Ibanez to fly out to left. For another, there is Octavio Dotel, a veteran whom the Dodgers acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates minutes before the trading deadline and who was closing for the Pirates at the time. He recorded 21 saves before the trade, but he also blew five others, meaning his percentage is identical to Broxton's. Neither of those alternatives is ideal, and there is no guarantee either of them would be any better than Broxton. Moreover, it might be too late for a change to even matter, given that the Dodgers' season already appears to be slipping away. But at a time when the fourth-place Dodgers (59-56) are still clinging to whatever sliver of hope they have of reaching the playoffs -- they now trail the division-leading San Diego Padres by nine games in the N.L. West and the wild card-leading San Francisco Giants by 6 1/2, with a bunch of teams in between -- logic would suggest that it might be time to at least try something different. If it doesn't work, well, what will they really have lost? For his part, Broxton denied the suggestion that this ballpark, where he famously blew a ninth-inning lead in Game 4 of last year's NL Championship Series, was still haunting him when he took the mound on Thursday. He denied, for the umpteenth time during this rough stretch he is going through, that there is anything physically wrong with him. And, of course, he denied that he is experiencing a crisis of confidence. "I'm fine," he said. "I'm just a little wild right now, but every pitcher goes through it. Hopefully, I can get it out of my system and be back to my normal self." Broxton can whistle past that graveyard all he wants to. But ultimately, it isn't his own confidence, or lack thereof, that will decide this issue. Torre is the one who will decide, perhaps as soon as Friday, whether his confidence in Broxton is sufficient to keep using him in the closer's role. And when Torre was given the chance to provide yet another vote of that confidence for Broxton after what might go down as the final nail in the Dodgers' season, the manager declined to offer one. http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/mlb/columns/story?id=5460373 ----- By Dylan Hernandez August 12, 2010|11:05 p.m. If Torre demotes Broxton, the most likely candidates to replace him would be All-Star left-hander Hong-Chih Kuo, rookie Kenley Jansen and recently acquired Octavio Dotel. http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-dodgers-phillies-20100813,0,1824682.story ----- By Scott Pianowski Fri Aug 13 12:23am PDT Is Broxton still the firm choice as LA's closer? Joe Torre apparently wants to sleep on it. "Let the smoke clear before you get me to say something I haven't thought about," Torre said right after the soul-crushing defeat, which he later termed the hardest one of the season. "[Broxton is] a big boy, he'll be all right. Long-term, I'm not worried about him." If you read between the lines, it sounds like Broxton might get a brief respite from the closing gig. This brings some other save-chasing names into play; perhaps Octavio Dotel(notes) would get a look in the ninth this weekend, or Hong-Chih Kuo(notes), or maybe even fearless rookie Kenley Jansen(notes). Torre isn't lacking for options. And with the Dodgers quickly falling out of the playoff chase in the NL, it's not easy to be patient. We'll see how Torre spins this situation before Friday's series opener at Atlanta. Kuo and Jansen have fantasy value in most leagues at the moment even if they're not closing; they've been that dominant. I took a flier on Dotel in the Yahoo Friends & Family League on the odd chance that Broxton may turn out to be hurt (or temporarily demoted from his role); in that league, you have to be out in front of news, not trailing behind it. In groups where the save is less important, you can take your time and let the situation play out a bit. There's no one set of rules that apply to the save chase. http://sports.yahoo.com/fantasy/blog/roto_arcade/post/Closing-Time-Jonathan -Broxton-gives-another-gam?urn=fantasy-262159 http://is.gd/efVpd --

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