Brad Penny isn’t the sappy type. Judging by the “Red Dawn’’ shirt he’s wearing - the ’80s movie featuring Patrick Swayze blowing up everything in sight - he’s probably never seen a romantic comedy on purpose.
Replace some pronouns in the following sentence, though, and Penny’s quote after yesterday’s game could be ripped straight out of a Jennifer Aniston movie:
“This shoulder program they have me on - if I wasn’t here, with these people, I don’t know if I’d be pitching,’’ he said.
Or: There was a point where Brad Penny needed the Boston Red Sox more than the Sox needed him.
Now, two months into the season and about six months since he started on the program to rehab his throwing shoulder and recover his career, Penny is throwing 97 miles per hour again, all the way into the sixth inning. He’s given up just seven earned runs combined in his last five outings.
After Penny’s performance yesterday against Seattle at Fenway Park - when he allowed six hits and two earned runs in six innings - the Red Sox need Brad Penny more than Brad Penny needs the Red Sox.
If only the offense showed it - Boston had only four hits in what ended up a 3-2 loss to the Mariners.
“You look up in the sixth or seventh and he’s giving you a chance to win every time out,’’ said manager Terry Francona. “All but two starts this year he’s been pretty solid.’’
Both of those starts - an eight-run trouncing vs. Baltimore and a 2 2/3-inning start against Cleveland in which he allowed seven runs - came in April. Since then, he’s consistently left the Red Sox with opportunities to win if they could muster some runs.
But Penny usually leaves with no-decisions. Yesterday was his seventh no-decision of the year, to go along with his 6-3 record. His only win in June was a three-hit, one-run performance in five innings against Florida on the 17th.
Penny is unaffected by his record.
“That’s baseball. You look at the last two games and two guys pitched well,’’ said Penny, referring to Mariner Garrett Olson’s similar two-run, four-hit effort over 6 1/3 innings that earned him the win yesterday. “It happens.’’
Record aside, the Sox’ one-year, $5 million flier on Penny has worked out.
During the offseason, some pointed to last season as the beginning of his deterioration. Penny made only four starts after June 14, his shoulder inflamed and his ERA ballooning two runs higher than any other point in his career.
“Last year, it was a problem. Every start hurt,’’ he said. “I don’t think I wasn’t confident last year. I just think it all goes back to the injury.’’
Now, he’s looking more like the Brad Penny who went 16-9 in 2006 or 16-4 in 2007, not the one who went 6-9 in 2008. His velocity is back to where it was when he was a Dodger.
“I’ve always pitched with velocity, all my career,’’ he said. “Health is the key. Being healthy gives me that velocity back. That’s why I’m pitching well.’’
And all that speculation about how Penny was just a trade chip and not a rotation asset? Well, Penny’s season is sounding a lot more like a movie he’d want to watch: lots of firepower, drowning out the breakup talk.
