Phillies keep spell on L.A. closer Broxton

The stakes were different Thursday night but the setting, for Jonathan Broxton, was eerily similar.

In 2009, Broxton blew a save in Game 4 of the NLCS, extending the Phillies' series lead to three games to one. And on Thursday in his first trip back to Citizens Bank Park, Broxton gave the Fightin's yet another memorable moment.

Entering the ninth inning with a three-run cushion, Broxton faced five batters, retired none, and was done when Carlos Ruiz doubled to left-center, driving in two runs to give the Phillies a 10-9 victory.

"Whatever happened last year, happened last year. I wasn't thinking about that at all," Broxton said Thursday night after blowing his fifth save of the season.

He also had problems in the 2008 NLCS. In that series, he gave up a two-run homer to Matt Stairs that brought the visiting Phillies to within a win of the World Series. Since then, Broxton's record against the Phillies is 2-2 with a 9.82 ERA and three blown saves.

On Thursday, Broxton started the ninth hitting leadoff hitter Placido Polanco. He then walked Mike Sweeney on nine pitches and Jayson Werth on five. Next up was Ben Francisco, who hit a ground ball that third baseman Casey Blake couldn't handle and ended up reducing the Dodgers' lead to one run.

"If I don't walk the guys [the error] doesn't matter," said Broxton.

"Let the smoke clear before you get me to say something I haven't thought about," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said. "He's a big boy, he'll be all right. Long-term, I'm not worried about him."

Friday, though, Torre demoted Broxton from the closer's role and said the All-Star would have to win back the job. Torre said Hong-Chih Kuo would be the closer for now.

"Brox understood and knows he needs to earn it back," Torre said.

Kuo was not available for Friday night's game against Atlanta after pitching in back-to-back games. Torre said if necessary, he would go with Octavio Dotel.