Now go enjoy the BBQ
It's way easier to enjoy a T-bone knowing that your Blue did some damage on the Braves. Some 12-5 damage, to be exact. After throwing some meat on the grill and cracking open a cold one, it would be appropriate to crank up a little Ramones on the stereo in honor of the afternoon's hero, Ramon Martinez. Sure, he's technically "the Ramon" and there's no "e" at the end. But after putting up five ribbies by himself, he created enough noise and presence to equal that of Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee and Tommy (or Marky, depending on your preference in loud drummers). All that was missing was the long hair and leather jacket (both of which would have been horribly uncomfortable in Atlanta's May heat). Actually, Brad Penny might argue that his presence on the mound was also missing, since he was none too thrilled upon being removed after 4.1 innings (and keeping with the punk theme, his spirited dugout tantrum would have made Sid Vicious proud). Penny's probably cooled down by now, especially after the win. But if he happens to show up at your shindig, I wouldn't mention the outing if he's holding a shish kebab skewer. Those babies could do some damage if stabbed in your eye.
More to come later.
—AK
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BRAD PENNY MUST BE TRADED NOW!
This team is too good, has too much potential for a championship, for a leftover character pitching version of Milton Bradley. Plus he is clearly breaking down like an old nag and can barely pitch five innings and has mental problems to boot. To show up a manager in that way because you wanted the "W" while you were getting your posterior hammered is the way of last years team. Not today buddy.
Get rid of him now before it's too late.
Posted by: Dodger Tony | May 29, 2006 at 02:55 PM
After all the blown leads this season, I glad Little pulled Penny in the 5th. It was the right thing to do. Way to go Little. Forget all these baby players. It's Little's job to secure wins not pamper players.
mike
Posted by: Michael Teniente | May 29, 2006 at 03:17 PM
P.S.
I'm a Brad Penny fan.
Posted by: Michael Teniente | May 29, 2006 at 03:39 PM
Penny is a firery guy and a fierce competitor and I would guess was mostly angry at himself for allowing the Braves back in the game. In the heat of the moment it is easy to scream at the people around you for your own misdoings (we have all done it). I guarantee that this was nothing and that Penny and Little will say the same.
Dodger Tony,
Calling for the immediate trading of Penny is nothing short of outrageous! Despite his bad outing today and his back trouble he is arguably the best pitcher we have. Again, he is a fierce competitor and I would not interpret what happened today as him showing up Little but as him getting caught up in the moment.
This was a one-off...mark my words.
Go Blue!!
Posted by: SantaMonica4Ever | May 29, 2006 at 04:11 PM
“Trade Penny!!!”
Whoa!! Hold your horses! Instead of getting worked up about this maybe you should take some valium, much like Penny needs to right about now.
Penny is a competitor. He may have some health issues, but I don’t think anyone will rightfully question whether or not the guy wants to win or if he gives 100%. The guy blew up, but to mention this tirade in the same sentence as Meltdown Bradley is absurd. Meltdown has serious mental issues. Penny blew up in the heat of battle. While he cursed Little and Honeycutt out and gave the water cooler a half-hearted wack, there’s no need to put his blowup up there with the Carlos Perez tantrums of baseball history.
Let’s not make a mountain out of molehill. I’m sure Penny realizes that he made a mistake and could have went about this a better way. Little/Honeycutt did what they had to do. Penny was getting ripped and the last thing the Dodgers need right now is to blow a game they should win. If there a silver lining in this it’s that Little had enough confidence to take Penny out and go to his bullpen. Penny probably considers himself the ace of the staff, and I applaud him for that. His point was that it was his first jam of the season and he thinks he is entitled to battle it out. Qualifying for the win had little to do with it, in my opinion. I think this mentality is that I’m your horse, and you need to give me the benefit of the doubt. I can definitely respect that, and I will respect Penny even more when he owns up to how he handled the situation. I won’t hold it against him that he wanted to stay in. Heck, he needs to pass that mentality over to Drew. But this will all simmer down tomorrow and it will be forgotten. Let’s not make this bigger than it needs to be.
Posted by: LoLo | May 29, 2006 at 04:54 PM
Instead of worrying about something that WILL be handled in-house we should be worrying about the fact that Penny is hurt, and it’s not just his back like has been publicly reported.
http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/gameday_recap.jsp?ymd=20060529&content_id=1477720&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=la
Posted by: LoLo | May 29, 2006 at 05:56 PM
I hate to say it Brad Penny BUT YOU HAD ABSOLUTLEY NOTHING TODAY! 6 streight hits at the end! Grady did the right thing. PERIOD!.
Posted by: Mini-Repko | May 29, 2006 at 06:34 PM
Brad Penny's tirade was an embarrassment to the game and is another example of what's wrong with some of today's athletes. Note to Penny: when you give up six straight hits on seven hard hit balls and face the tying run with one out--you're done. But instead of thinking about your teammates, or winning the game, are you thinking about how much money that lost "W" is going to cost you in arbitration or free agency? On a day when 40,000 fans in Atlanta stood in silence to honor the dedicated men and women who are protecting your freedom to make millions, you whine about pitching "hurt." Oh boy, what a "sacrifice." What about the kids who watched on television as you screamed like a psycho in the dugout while brandishing a bat? You showed up your manager, your pitching coach, your teammates, Dodger fans--but most of all--you disrespected the game. If it was up to me I'd suspend you for your next start and send you Baghdad so you could learn first hand what real sacrifice is all about.
Posted by: Pat Dillon | May 29, 2006 at 06:56 PM
Its always good to beat the Braves. They're like the 90's-00's baseball version of Celtics, Notre Dame and Dallas Cowboys for Dodgers fans. Sounds like Gagne will be back in the closer role Thursday. Once we get our outfield reasonably healthy, look out!
Posted by: rdlee | May 29, 2006 at 08:41 PM
Penny needs to calm his redneck self down a bit. He's our best starting pitcher and he goes and acts like he got removed for nothing. Grady Little knows a little something about leaving pitchers in too long and letting someone continue pitching after 6 straight hits would be foolish.
Posted by: Pablo Goldstein | May 29, 2006 at 09:28 PM
Pat Dillon,
Amen! Penny was only thinking about himself, not his teammates. I'm sure he believed he could get out of that inning and get the win. If he is the man I think he is he will show honest remorse and everyone will move on. He'll know Little did the right thing for the TEAM and admit it.
rdlee
Yes, absolutley great to beat the Braves! A win against a team that wins (how many post seasons in a row?) is always a boost.
Posted by: Andy B | May 30, 2006 at 12:19 AM
Pat Dillon,
You must be an infallible human being who has never had a moment in time when you lost your cool in a manner which was unacceptable?! While Penny's tirade was not pretty and arguably unprofessional, he, like everyone else, is human and is subject to (and therefore granted) moments of irrational behavior.
Your comment about the sacrifice being made by the men and women who are serving our country is completely out of context. With all due respect to those men and women serving overseas, it is at best a point of contention (and far from a fact) that what they are doing is 'protecting' our 'freedom' (many of those same men and women would tell you the same). That type of Bushist rhetoric belongs on another blog!
Go Blue!!
Posted by: SantaMonica4Ever | May 30, 2006 at 03:01 AM
It’s nice to see cooler heads prevail on this blog, for the most part. Yes, Little did the right thing in taking Penny out. Yes, Penny embarrassed himself and was out of line.
These things happen. Most of the time they happen behind closed doors, but Penny lost his cool today and aired something that should have been handled in the clubhouse. Again, let’s not get carried away with the actual magnitude of this incident.
Should Penny apologize? – Of course. He should apologize for the tirade and not necessarily for wanting to stay in the game. I am sure that by now he has clamed down and realized that, 1) he mishandled the situation, 2) the team does not need this. I’m sure he will apologize today.
Should Penny be punished? – If that’s what management decides to do then I fully endorse it. Don’t confuse me trying to downplay the situation with condoning the act (which I don’t). PENNY WAS WRONG. But it is something that can be easily rectified and forgotten. Just like Penny should be man enough to apologize he should be man enough to accept his punishment. I’m all for ANY punishment he gets.
Is this a travesty that will forever mire baseball? – C’mon guys and gals. Let’s not get carried away here. Yes Penny acted like a moron. But he didn’t throw a bag of balls onto the field. He didn’t throw a chair into the stands. He didn’t run into the stands. He didn’t rip his jersey off his chest. He had something to say to the manager, he walked a straight line to the dugout, and he left his emotions there. Embarrassing behavior? Of course. A travesty? Hardly. It was evident from that half-hearted swing at the cooler that he was already realizing he was wrong.
If this was a travesty for baseball then Selig would be all over it. It’s not though. It’s something that needs to be handles in-house, and it will. Again, let’s the get carried away with the magnitude of the incident.
Pat Dillon,
Penny wasn’t whining about being hurt. He was whining about the fact that he is out there giving it his all and Little didn’t let him work himself out of the jam. He felt he deserved that since he is willing to pitch hurt, and has done so in the past. If anyone needs to be sent over to Iraq it’s J.D. Drew. That’s the guy that will not play when he is hurt (and I use the term loosely) and whines about the pettiest of injuries (again, using the term loosely). Penny wanted to keep pitching despite being hurt. There’s a difference.
Posted by: LoLo | May 30, 2006 at 05:57 AM
Penny IS a competitor. He wanted to keep battling. I read some of his post-game comments & one thing that he said was that we STILL had a 3 run lead, he had two outs to go & LaRoche was do up to bat & hes 0-7 against him. In Penny's mind he thought he could get those last two outs. How can you be mad at that. How many times have you seen other pitchers or other players get frustrated on the field & you can see them giving up. Penny took his anger out after walking out of the field & had a tantrum in the dugout. Hey if a guy is gonna do that I prefer it to happen in the dugout & not on the field. Put yourself in his spot, you think you have it in you to win regardless of the back pain & shoulder pain, your velocity is down, you've got a lead that you seem to be slowly loosing, the next guy up has never gotten a hit from you, you're two outs from another win, & you're yanked. Adrenaline+pain+anger+disappointment+frustration = cooler beat down
Posted by: MrsThinkBlue | May 30, 2006 at 06:52 AM
Even though the first game I ever saw was the Angeles versus Cleveland (GO INDIANS!) I will always be a Dodgers fan.
I think it is a curse of God that the Angeles will never win anything as long as they retain the moniker "Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim."
The Angels are as much an L.A. (at least since they left L.A. in the 60's (?) ) team as the Sacramento Kings would be an L.A. team if they move to Anaheim in the next two years.
Los Angeles only has one baseball team: The Dodgers.
The Dodgers are one of the teams that truly matter.
GO BLUE!
Posted by: Jon Kavulic | May 30, 2006 at 08:26 AM