Jump to content

Peeved Penny Sticks It To Reds


Guest Juanky

Recommended Posts

Guest Juanky

MARLINS 5, REDS 2

 

 

Peeved Penny sticks it to Reds

 

Two days after Ken Griffey Jr. stared toward Florida's dugout after homering, Brad Penny let off some steam by shutting down the slugger and Cincinnati.

 

By CLARK SPENCER

 

[email protected]

 

 

CINCINNATI - Ken Griffey Jr. no doubt figured the furor he caused when he glared toward the Marlins dugout Tuesday night would die to a simmer within a couple days. But pitcher Brad Penny was still smoldering Thursday.

 

''Something like that just fires you up a little more,'' Penny said after taking out his wrath on Griffey and the Cincinnati Reds in a 5-2 win at Great American Ball Park. ``You won't let a guy like that beat you because you know he's going to show you up.''

 

Penny resisted temptation by not throwing at Griffey on Thursday. But he took dead aim at the Reds star with a series of verbal barbs after holding him hitless in four at-bats. The rest of the Reds managed only six hits off Penny, who improved to 6-2.

 

''He's been the stud on our club so far,'' manager Jack McKeon said of Penny, who has quietly blossomed into the staff ace. ``He was a guy who thought he could throw through a brick wall. Now he's pitching.''

 

Penny is 14-6 since July and notched a pair of World Series wins against the New York Yankees.

 

He doesn't say much, usually letting his pitching do the talking. Thursday, though, he didn't spare words when the talk turned to Griffey, who appeared to stare into Florida's dugout after hitting a home run Tuesday.

 

Griffey told reporters the next day he was merely looking at some friends seated behind the dugout, but Penny didn't buy that.

 

''Yeah, I believe that,'' Penny said facetiously.

 

Asked if he could recall a player looking toward an opposing dugout after hitting a home run, Penny, alluding to Griffey's .241 average, replied: ``If you do, you're usually hitting over .300.''

 

Circle Tuesday on your calendar. That's when Penny is scheduled to make his next start -- against Griffey and the Reds at Pro Player Stadium.

 

Until then, the Marlins will be content to savor taking two of three at Cincinnati.

 

The Marlins struck for four runs on four doubles in the fifth inning Thursday, knocking out Reds starter Aaron Harang (4-2) and essentially putting the game on ice. It also cooled the red-hot Reds, who owned the best record in the National League entering the series finale.

 

Penny was strong at the outset, but gave up a pair of runs in the third as the Reds took a 2-0 lead.

 

But Miguel Cabrera, Hee Seop Choi, Mike Redmond and Alex Gonzalez each doubled in the fifth as the Marlins showed some life at the bottom of the order. Choi, Redmond and Gonzalez -- the sixth, seventh and eighth hitters -- combined for five hits, and each of the eight starting position players had at least one.

 

The Reds managed only two hits -- both singles -- off Penny after Sean Casey's RBI single in the third. Penny made it through eight innings before Armando Benitez took over to record his 18th save.

 

Benitez also set the club record of 26 2/3 innings without allowing an earned run. Luis Aquino held the previous mark of 26 1/3, set in 1994.

 

Penny relied heavily on his fastball. But he spotted it with precision.

 

''I located my fastball well,'' Penny said. ``If you work both sides of the plate, you'll be OK.''

 

Penny struck out five, including Griffey in the third, and walked one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like this

 

Last year Penny and McKeon were butting heads a little bit .... this year you have the player sticking up for the manager by taking offense to actions aimed at him manager and the manager leveling nothing but praise on his young, progressing pitcher

 

aside from all the BS I think it shows Penny finally blossoming as a pitcher

 

something I wasn't sure would happen

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is the first time I heard Griffey was "looking at some friends".

 

And no, this isn't a bigger deal than we think. Penny is just using the whole thing to get fired up which is ok. If he would have taken aim at Griff, the issue would have been escalated far more than it needed to be.

 

The media loves this crap.

 

I thought it was fine what Griffey did and I think Penny did the appropriate thing and let his game do the talking.

 

Im sure the media will again pump up the non-event when the Reds go to Miami.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...