Five Cuts (cont.)

Tom Verducci's Mailbag Submit a comment or question for Tom. Name: Email: Hometown: Question: SEND

4. And then there were two.

For closers, the postseason is a version of Dancing with the Stars in spikes, in which those who can't cut it -- and their teams -- get booted off the show.

Of the eight closers who began this postseason, six have blown saves with their team three outs or fewer from a win -- with each of those blown saves leading to a loss. Jonathan Broxton of the Dodgers joined Joe Nathan of the Twins, Jonathan Papelbon of the Red Sox, Ryan Franklin of the Cardinals, Houston Street of the Rockies and Brian Fuentes of the Angels. The last two standing without a blown save are Brad Lidge of the Phillies and Mariano Rivera of the Yankees, whose teams, not coincidentally, are the closest to the World Series.

Broxton blew the save on Monday night by failing to come close to throwing a strike to Matt Stairs with one out and nobody on in the ninth. Yes, we know Stairs hit a big home run off Broxton -- a year ago. But nibbling with a one-run lead when you can throw the ball 100 mph is asking for trouble.

5. It may be a brutal postseason for closers, but it's a boon for fans. Of the 20 postseason games so far, 10 have been decided by one run -- nine in the last at-bat, including five by walk-offs.

Jimmy Rollins of Philadelphia became only the sixth player in postseason history with a walk-off hit when his team was one out from a loss. Here are the only players with a walk-off postseason hit when down to their last out:

Player Team Series Game Cookie Lavagetto Dodgers 1947 World Series Game 4 Dane Iorg Royals 1985 World Series Game 6 Kirk Gibson Dodgers 1988 World Series Game 1 Francisco Cabrera Braves 1992 NLCS Game 7 Ivan Rodriguez Marlins 2003 NLDS Game 3 Jimmy Rollins Phillies 2009 NLCS Game 4