Axford, 35, has a 4.45 earned-run average in 45 appearances. But he has gotten more than half his outs on ground balls, and he has held left-handed batters to a .147 average.
Bill Shaikin
Bill Shaikin is the national baseball reporter for the Los Angeles Times. He has worked at The Times since 1997 and has covered baseball for Southern California newspapers since 1989. He was the beat writer when the Dodgers filed for bankruptcy in 2011 and the Angels won the World Series in 2002, two events considered beyond improbable before they happened. He graduated from UC Berkeley and hopes to see the Golden Bears in the Rose Bowl during his lifetime, just once.
