Not in Boston Anymore: Penny Dazzles for Giants in Team Debut

Brad Penny got a raw deal in Boston, and he took out his anger on the Philadelphia Phillies. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

 

In eight starts with the Boston Red Sox, the 42-year old future Hall of Famer, John Smoltz, allowed five or more runs in six of those outings. His final start with the team was his worst, a loss to the New York Yankees in which he surrendered eight runs on nine hits in just three-and-one-third innings.

Not surprisingly, Boston wasted little time in sending him packing, releasing the failed experiment immediately following the last of many dreadful performances. It appeared he had nothing left in the arm that helped him win 212 games, collect 154 saves, and strikeout 3,044 batters over 20-plus seasons.

But with a competitive nature many pitchers possess, he thought he had something left. The St. Louis Cardinals, holding the National League’s second-best record at the time of Smoltz’s dismissal, believed him, claimed him off waivers, and, on Aug. 23, had him start against the San Diego Padres.

Their pitching coach, Dave Duncan, who has a habit of turning around pitchers, informed Smoltz that he was tipping his pitches while with the Red Sox, so Duncan made a minor tweak to his delivery. It worked wonders as Smoltz turned back the clock, striking out nine batters, including seven consecutively, in five shutout innings.

As a Red Sox fan, I was peeved at the sudden turnaround, and was even more enraged when his success carried over to his second start, against the Washington Nationals. He pitched six innings, allowing only one run, while striking out six. Maybe Boston’s pitching coach John Farrell didn’t know what he was doing wrong.

Maybe it was just getting out of the American League East that did the trick. Or maybe, just maybe, Smoltz toyed with the Red Sox, knowing if he was dreadful enough, his release would be granted. Whatever it was, Smoltz made a complete transformation.

He’s not the only one. Pitcher Brad Penny, like Smoltz, signed a one-year contract with the Red Sox prior to the season, but unlike Smoltz, he had more than a few moments of brilliance.

Throughout the months of May and June, as well as half of July, the two-time All-Star who placed third in the National League Cy Young with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2007 was extremely durable and could be counted on for six innings of two-to-three-run ball.

Then, he hit a snag. After living low in the zone, his pitches became appetizing, and, as a result, he started allowing five, six, even seven runs per outing.

Then, he gave up eight runs on ten hits in four innings against the Yankees on Aug. 21. It was a bad time to pitch badly, but given his overall success with Boston, what came next was very surprising. The Red Sox released him.

Unlike Smoltz, Penny got a raw deal with the Red Sox. But the release gave him new life as well. As with Smoltz, he was able to go back to his roots, back to the National League. The San Francisco Giants signed him, and they were so confident in his abilities, that, in the midst of a intense pennant race, thought inserting him into their rotation was a risk worth taking.

Penny didn’t disappoint in his return to the National League, a league with the reputation of being offensively challenged. Because of the several shoulder injuries suffered in 2008, isn’t the strikeout pitcher he once was, but his velocity hasn’t changed much.

For a majority of his tenure with Boston, pitching to contact wasn’t a problem, and neither was it against the National League East-leading Philadelphia Phillies.

His fastball was regularly thrown at 94 miles per hour with great movement, while his curveball proved a valuable sidekick with a sharp, biting break. Thanks to these two pitches, especially his fastball, he allowed only two hits through the first four innings.

Then, after allowing a single and a walk to begin the fifth inning—the only free pass of his outing—his changeup and slider got him out of the jam to keep a potent Phillies offense off the board.

Giants left fielder Andres Torres drove in the game’s first run in the top of that frame, and the only run Penny would need. San Francisco gave him some insurance in the sixth inning, though, just in case. Juan Uribe, generously listed at 6'0", cranked a J.A. Happ offering deep into the left field seats for a two-run homer, and Aaron Rowand followed with a solo-shot to give Penny four runs with which to work.

Penny allowed a one-out single to Jimmy Rollins in the bottom of the sixth, but disposed of the the next two hitters, Shane Victorino and Chase Utley quite easily. He had yet to show signs of fatigue, and had no reason to, having thrown only 72 pitches through six innings.

So, he entered the seventh relatively fresh, as his confrontation with the ever-dangerous Ryan Howard showed. He started him off with two fastballs, for a ball and strike respectively, and both were clocked at 95 miles per hour. He offset these heaters with a curveball that fooled Howard and put him in a hole, then finished him off with a fastball right down the middle as Howard’s bat remained rested on his broad shoulders.

Penny, with his second strikeout out of the way, continued to produce weak swings, and therefore topped flyballs and duffed grounders. After completing the eighth, with a 4-0 Giants lead still intact, he was congratulated by his new teammates on not only a fine outing, but his longest of the season.

Over those eight innings, he gave up just five hits, while retiring 16 of the 28 hitters he faced on three pitches or less.

Manager Bruce Bochy said “he was on a mission.” Penny was out to not only help the Giants, but prove that Boston was wrong to let him go, thereby continuing the trend previously set by Smoltz. His next objective? Make the Dodgers feel the same. It just so happens that he will face them twice this month.

His response: “Yeah, I’ll look forward to that.” If his start against the Phillies is a sign of things to come, the Dodgers certainly won’t.