March 11, 200422 yr 03/11/2004 10:24 AM ET Penny hopes to build on success McKeon expects breakout year from right-hander By Joe Frisaro / MLB.com Ticket information Marlins starter Brad Penny is excited to move his game to the next level. (David J. Phillip/AP) JUPITER, Fla. -- They have the rings, but they are still battling for respect. Just about every national magazine or news account listing the top five pitching staffs excludes the defending World Series champion Marlins. Among the who's who list are the Cubs, Yankees, Red Sox, A's and Astros. Where are the Marlins? Right-hander Brad Penny says they don't belong ... yet. "Everybody compares us to all these other staffs but you can't really do that," Penny said. "Yeah, we won the World Series, but we are still barely above .500 pitchers. All of us. Every one of us. To take that next step, you've got to be like Barry Zito was for a year. We're a staff that goes out there and wins one and loses one. I think we've got to step it up a bit and start winning." Penny hopes this becomes the breakout season for himself and the staff that has the talent to be noted alongside the league's finest. The four-year veteran, Penny comes off an up-and-down 2003 season where he was 14-10 with a 4.13 ERA. He made 32 starts and pitched 196 1/3 innings, tying for the staff lead in victories with Mark Redman and Dontrelle Willis. In many ways, Penny's postseason mirrored his regular season. He was 3-1 but had a 5.73 ERA. He was roughed up in two starts against the Cubs in the NLCS, giving up seven earned runs on nine hits, two homers and three walks with no strikeouts. In Game 2 at Wrigley Field, Sammy Sosa crushed a homer to deep center field that was estimated at 495 feet. After that, manager Jack McKeon held Penny out a start in the series. Yet in Game 7, Penny got on track with one scoreless inning of relief. He actually was credited with the win, although Josh Beckett was the real pitching star, giving up one run on one hit in four innings of relief. Penny rebounded in the World Series, winning both his starts, Game 1 and Game 5. In 12 1/3 innings, the 25-year-old from Broken Arrow, Okla., gave up three earned runs. "He did so much for us last year," McKeon said. "You expect every one of those guys to have one or two bad outings. But I never gave up on him." The postseason can be cruel to players. Reputations are made, right or wrong, on individual performances. The fact that the Marlins showed tremendous resiliency to bounce back in the playoffs after trailing in all three series' gave Penny the opportunity to redeem himself. Did he do anything differently against the Yankees after a rough time with the Cubs? "Nothing really," Penny said. "I've been hit hard before. Whether it's the playoffs or the regular season, it doesn't matter what time of year it is. You don't like it. You go home and you don't want to talk to your parents because you don't want to get your head handed to you. Usually, you don't want to have that happen again, so you do whatever it takes the next time. "It was just a bad start. I wanted to get back out there. And when I did, I wanted to prove to everyone that I could pitch." Penny's progression has McKeon saying he expects a breakout season from the hard throwing right-hander. With a career mark of 40-34, Penny is two wins shy of tying Ryan Dempster for the most victories in franchise history. "He is in great shape," McKeon said. "He's got a great attitude." His stuff has also been upper-shelf. He has a 96-plus mph fastball and a knee-buckling curveball. The main point McKeon has preached to Penny is pitching and not throwing. Like many hard-throwers, he gets the mindset of trying to blow batters away only challenging them with fastballs. "I'm starting to mature as a pitcher," Penny said. "I'm more focused now on what I have to do for a win. I know more of what I have to do as a pitcher to get guys out. "When you go out there and you locate a pitch, 99 percent of the time you are going to be successful. These guys are paid to hit fastballs. Sometimes you take it for granted. What I learned is I wasn't as focused as I should have been. I'm going to take that World Series experience into the regular season." Joe Frisaro is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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