Fuck You Brad Penny

God dammit Brad Penny is a lucky son of a bitch. His wife karina Smirnoff did some playboy pictures here's 1, follow the link for the rest. His resume is pretty impressive Eliza Dushku and Alyssa Milano.

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Tigers Sign Brad Penny

"The Detroit Tigers and free-agent right-hander Brad Penny have agreed to a one-year deal worth $3 million, plus $3 million in incentives, sources told ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney (ESPN)."

If you take out Penny's time with the Red Sox he has actually been a very solid pitcher in his career. The problem is the Tigers play in the AL and I don't believe he can handle AL lineups. On top of that, Penny is recovering from an upper-back injury that limited him to just 9 starts in 2009.

Still, the signing makes sense. The Tigers have a lot of question marks in their rotation. Verlander and Scherzer are very good, but after that it gets a little dicey. Porcello had a great rookie year, but stumbled last year before finishing strong. Galarraga is likely to lose his job (even after his near perfect game), and Phil Coke is being converted from a reliever to a start. Penny can eat up some innings for them, which is never a bad thing with all the young pitching they have.

Brad Penny You Are A Son Of A Bitch

After tagging hotties like Alisa Milano and Eliza Dushku, he's on to the next one with Karina Smirnoff

Brad Penny Agrees With Cards

As long as Penny stays in the NL he will be fine. He proved last year with the Sox that he is too hot and cold when it comes to pitching in the AL, so St. Louis is a perfect match. Penny was 4-1 with a 2.59 ERA in six starts for San Francisco. He is 105-84 lifetime and won twice for Florida in its 2003 World Series victory over the Yankees. With St. Louis potentially losing Joel Pineiro, John Smoltz and Todd Wellemeyer, Penny is sure to fill the void for one of them.

Brad Penny Is Also Super In The NL

Penny threw five-hit ball over eight shutout innings in his first start with the Giants, leading the NL wild-card contenders to a 4-0 win over the Phillies. Which is confirmation that the NL (including the Phillies BMack, are a minor league team) If Brad Penny even had one game like this for the Red Sox I could have called this coincidental, however he didn't, and sucked the whole time. For some reason I don't have as much of a bitter taste in my mouth when it comes to Penny as I do for John Smoltz, but it does suck to have two former Sox pitchers kill it in the NL.

Penny to Giants

The San Francisco Giants signed Brad Penny, and plan to start him Wednesday night. The Giants are tied with the Rockies for the NL Wild Card lead. And if John Smoltz's rebirth in the NL is any indication, Penny should do well in the Senior/Lesser Circuit.

-The Commodore

September Run?

As the 2009 season heads toward September I still don’t feel as though the Red Sox have gained a real identity. Actually, more to the point, their perceived strengths have changed from month to month and we don’t really know what this team is capable of down the stretch. Is this a team that can strike fear into the Yankees if they meet up? Will they even make the playoffs? Let’s take a look at the three areas that have fluctuated at different points for the Sox.

Early on, the Sox’ superior rotation depth was supposed to leave them with a conundrum in June when future Hall-of-Famer John Smoltz would be waiting in the wings and Clay Buchholz ready if everything went south. Now as of August 27, everything went wrong and (great start from Tim Wakefield aside) he could be considered the third starter. I wish I had an answer to why Brad Penny and John Smoltz failed so badly in Boston or why Dice-K’s high-wire act from 2008 finally dissolved. The last time I was this wrong about a rotation was when I thought Jeff Suppan was the answer in 2003. We’ll have a better idea of whether this team will be making a deep run in October when we see how Dice-K looks upon his return and if Wakefield can stay healthy.

Next was the Jason Bay-led offense (despite the absence of David Ortiz). Bay had 15 home runs and 49 RBI by the end of May and that dreadlocked guy who used to reside in left field was no longer a fixture in WEEI conversation. A .230 June and .192 July from Bay shed light on the fact that not only is this offense not deep enough to succeed with its RBI man in a bad slump, but makes you wonder how it was able to produce runs early on in the season. Maybe Bay getting hot in the playoffs and pushing the Rays to a game 7 combined with the good start gave us the illusion this offense was just fine without Manny or Mark Teixeira.

While having Victor Martinez in the picture makes this lineup much more dangerous and I believe Kevin Youkilis to be the team’s MVP because of his versatility and consistent month-to-month numbers (at least 4 HR and 13 RBI in every month so far), it’s clear Jason Bay holds the key to this offense. The stats support the obvious result of him driving in runs as the Sox are 10-3 since July 26 when Bay drives in a run but when he’s hot it gives Youkilis, Martinez and Mike Lowell better pitches to hit.

The solid, consistent numbers from this bullpen would lead you to believe this could be its identity. I’ll ask you this, though: are you confident in these young guys in the playoffs? Daniel Bard’s eighth inning implosion on Sunday Night Baseball on August 9 in Yankee Stadium scared the hell out of me . I had visions of the Yankee magic of old when he gave up those bombs to Damon and Teixeira. He’s a young guy with some of the best stuff on the staff and I want to have confidence in him in that situation because it very well could present itself again in October. Bard’s bad outing aside, Ramon Ramirez has never pitched in the playoffs (even though he was on that ’07 Rockies team) and Manny Delcarmen hasn’t proven himself in the playoffs either.

Jonathan Papelbon hasn’t been exactly bullet-proof in 2009. He already has more walks this year than ’07 and ’08 combined. Needless to say, his command is a concern but he gets it done come October. Along with Papelbon, Hideki Okajima has been a rock for this team both in the playoffs and regular season. His value can’t be dismissed. I hope Billy Wagner is anything close to the guy with a 2.39 ERA but he’s spent his whole career in the NL and he isn’t exactly Sean Casey in the clubhouse.

The fact that this team hasn’t found a niche isn’t necessarily a bad thing. A rotation of Beckett, Lester, Wakefield, Buchholz and Tazawa/Dice-K/Bowden could be very good and Wagner could make an already deep bullpen the best in the majors. I think this offense has finally found itself and will be clicking in September. Terry Francona will earn his money in September as he juggles the offensive impact a Lowell/Martinez lineup has vs. the game calling and defense Jason Varitek brings. Good luck, Tito.

A few side notes:

-Look for a huge September from Dustin Pedroia. He’s been driving the ball again recently and I’d be shocked if he didn’t start showing more power soon.

-So long, Brad Penny. I won’t miss watching your John Wasdin-eqsue fastballs and overall d-bag mannerisms on the mound.

-How dumb is Tony Pena for locating his slider to Ortiz in the same exact spot he struck Youkilis out on? If I were a White Sox fan I’d take my nearest Ron Karkovice card and rip it to shreds.

-Shut up, Milton Bradley. No one likes you and you aren’t a good enough player for anything that you say or do to be considered real news.

-A .291 batting average with 2 homers and 9 RBI in August for Manny Ramirez in August. Feel free to make your own joke about Manny’s empty stats during a time in which his team has let the Rockies crawl to within 3 games of the division lead. Good stuff.

-Joe Mauer is a .373-hitting catcher with 25 home runs and more walks than strikeouts (52-49). I don’t care if the Twins are in the playoff hunt or not, he’s the AL MVP.

-Aaron Hill has 30 home runs. With a huge September he could be the fourth second baseman ever to hit 40 bombs. The others? Ryne Sandberg, Rogers Hornsby and Davey Johnson. Jay Bell came close with 38 in 1999 but no one has done it since Sandberg hit 40 in 1990.

-Chris Carpenter’s comeback has been impressive. If anything, he’s better than before.

NL Teams Looking At Penny

"As Brad Penny, who was told by Boston Red Sox officials Wednesday night that he is being released, is being moved through waivers, at least three NL contenders -- the Colorado Rockies, San Francisco Giants and Florida Marlins -- have expressed interest in the veteran right-hander, sources said (ESPN)."

If I was an NL team I would grab him. If we have learned anything this year, we have learned that the NL is the AL's farm league. It is a joke (excluding the Phillies), so Penny will probably sign with one of these teams and be nasty down the stretch...

Brad Penny Released

Struggling Boston Red Sox right-hander Brad Penny asked for and was granted his release Wednesday night. Newly-acquired reliever Billy Wagner will take his spot on the roster.

"I asked for my release and I got it," Penny said, according to the Boston Herald. ESPN

Looks like the Red Sox plans of signing veteran pitchers to one year deals didn't work at all. First John Smoltz was a fucking disaster, and then Penny showed some promise, however he was getting crushed it seemed like every outing. I like Penny, I do, but he just sucks. At least he banged Alyssa Milano.

Red Sox Announce Plans For Penny

"The Sports Xchange reports that Brad Penny, whom the Red Sox announced over the weekend that he would be removed from the rotation for the coming week, will serve as a potential long man in the bullpen on Wednesday and Thursday. If he doesn't pitch in either game, the Red Sox will throw the 31-year-old Penny in a simulated game on Friday afternoon and reevaluate his situation (Sportsline)."

The Sox really need a long reliever. If you really think about it they don't have one. Can Penny do it? I don't believe so, but it is worth a shot, and it is better then just cutting him. Maybe some time off, and some bullpen sessions and he can build back up some arm strength. This is going to be a really important next couple of weeks. Can Wake be what he was before he got hurt? What will Penny do? When will Dice-K be back? When he does get back, is he going to be the Dice-K from last year? Or is it going to be more of the same? Should be interesting...

Tigers 5 Red Sox 6

Well the losing streak is finally over. The Sox didn't make it easy, but a win is a win, and the Sox really needed this one. Boston jumped all over Edwin Jackson in this game. They made him throw 104 pitches in only 4 innings.

Pedroia started the Sox off right hitting a 2 run HR, but unlike so many other games recently the Sox kept putting runs on the board. In the very next innings Nick Green hit a solo shot and Ortiz had an RBI single. Like I said before Boston didn't make it easy as Brad Penny was solid, but not great going 6 innings allowing 3 runs on 6 hits. Detroit scored 2 runs between the 4th and 5th, so Boston's lead shrank to 4-2. Bay, who was dropped to 7 in the batting order, did his best Fisk impression barely keeping a HR fair as it went into the Monster.

Things got rocky in the 7th as Delcarmen, who has been terrible of late, let up another 2 runs and the game was tied at 5-5. Nick Green once again became the savior in this game hitting a sac fly in the bottom of the inning. Boston tried to close out the 8th with Ramiriez, but when he started to struggle Boston had to lean on their closer to get the last 4 outs of the game, which he did easily. That gave Papelbon his 28th save of the season.

With the win Boston is now 5 1/2 games behind the Yankees for 1st place in the AL East, and since the Rangers did not play last night the Sox have a 1/2 game lead in the race for the Wild Card.

Red Sox 4 Rays 6

The panic button is not being pushed yet, but the Sox are giving every reason to be concerned. Penny once again had a bad outing going 6 innings allowing 5 runs, as the Sox just can't find a way to win at Tropicana Field.

Pena hit a two-run homer off Brad Penny (7-6) in the second inning. Crawford, celebrating his 28th birthday, went deep with a man on in the third. Burrell added a solo shot off Penny for a 5-2 lead in the sixth. Boston's offense eventually got something going scoring in the 6th, 7th, and 8th innings, but the game was already out of reach.

David Price had himself a nice night throwing 6 innings of 2 run baseball. The only good news for the Sox is that Bay went deep at his first at bat, so hopefully that is a sign that he is healthy and ready to get back to his pre All-Star break form.

The bad news for the Sox is that they are 2 1/2 games behind the Yankees, and are facing them tonight with Smoltz on the hill...

A's 8 Red Sox 6

This game really pissed me off. Penny was terrible letting up 5 runs in the first inning. I literally sat down and Penny threw his first pitch which was a HR to Adam Kennedy....I knew it was going to be a long night.

Boston fought back and scored 3 runs of their own in the bottom of the 1st off a Mike Lowell HR, but even though Penny settled down for a couple innings he ended up letting up another 2 runs and the game was out of reach.

The difference in the game was that youngster Brett Anderson showed more composure then Brad Penny. Anderson had 1 bad inning then was pretty much flawless from that point on. Bay and Youk combined to go 0-8 with 7 Ks, which is completely unacceptable.

I don't know what is wrong with the Sox right now. The night they hit their pitching gives out. When Beckett or Lester have a great game the bullpen implodes or the offense doesn't show up. The hope is that this is all just a bump in the road, but it is becoming alarming, almost like the Sox forgot how to put a complete game together (or how to win).

With the loss the Sox fall to 3 1/2 games behind the Yankees for 1st place in the AL East.

Red Sox Looking To Make Big Trade

"The Red Sox have not closed the door on an impact deal for Roy Halladay of the Blue Jays or Victor Martinez of the Indians, according to the Boston Globe. Red Sox chairman Tom Werner told the Globe that GM Theo Epstein is "burning the midnight oil" on a possible big deal. A report on FoxSports.com says the Red Sox are looking into not only Halladay and Martinez, but Adrian Gonzalez of the Padres as well (ESPN)."

No shocking names on this list, but for the first time I am convinced the Sox are going to make a deal. The question is what they can give up. It looks like the Smoltz experiment is going to blow up in their face. So the Sox are going to need Wake to come back healthy. Penny is notorious for being terrible in the 2nd half, so could he be the guy out? Maybe a deal of Penny, Bowden, and another minor leaguer for V-Mart would make sense, but the Indians would have to lower their asking price.

The trade that really intrigues me is for Adrian Gonzalez. He is in a horrible slump, but from everything I have read the Sox want to make a deal not just for this year, but long term. Papi is on his way out, not this year, but the signs are there that he is nearing his end. So, maybe Gonzalez in a hitter friendly park could be a 40-45 HR hitter, who has a great OBP. Seems like a Sox guy, and he would add some much needed power. San Diego would be really pissed if the Padres traded him, so they are going to need some talent in return, but a deal that included Bowden, Anderson, and either Buchholz, or a couple of the single A guys that are ripping it up could get it done.

Anyways all interesting stuff to keep an eye on.

What To Do With Buchholz?

I usually hate Globe 10.0, but I have to say I was intrigued with Chad Finn in this video. He seems to think Penny will get dealt the the National League before the trade deadline. While I don't disagree I think it is going to hinge on how Smoltz pitches before the trade deadline.

Royals 8 Red Sox 6

What a disappointing game. It started off so well with the Sox up 4-0 going into the 4th inning. Then the Royals got hot, and crushed Penny, and then the Sox bullpen which used to be a strength, but has become more of the Achilles heal of this team over the last 10 games.

Boston was all over the Royals through 3 innings. Ortiz went deep again (his 11th of the year), and Youk even got it going with an RBI double. Penny was doing fine, but in the 4th inning he let up 3 runs, which raised his pitch count so he couldn't go more then 5 innings. The Sox bullpen then came in and were just awful. Delcarmen let up 2 runs in 2/3 of an inning. Masterson then followed with 2 runs of his own in just a 1/3 of an innings, and Ramirez was nothing special going 1 2/3 innings letting up a run.

This was a terrible game for the Sox. The good news is that Ortiz is officially back, but that won't mean anything if Bay, Youk, and the Sox bullpen can't get it going. With the loss the Sox are now tied for 1st place in the AL East with the Yankees.

Red Sox 1 Braves 2

The Red Sox failed in their chance for a sweep as Tommy Hanson improves to 4-0 even though he was battling the flu. The much hyped prospect has so far been the real deal, and it has to be helping Braves' fans forget the whole mess with Glavine. Hason went 6 innings allowing only 2 hit 0 runs with 2 Ks. His ERA on the season is 2.48 and he is going to be a good building block for a team that really needs to rebuild.

Boston did not get its first run till the 9th inning when Varitek it an RBI double. Other then that this game was a snoozer. Penny once again pitched well going 6 inning allowing 2 runs, but the Sox gave him no support as they only had 5 hits all game. Games this this happen, but Boston needs to be more consistent with their run support, as they didn't give much in Wakefield win either.

With the loss the Sox are now only 3 games up on the Yankees and 5 games up on the Ray. Both teams are riding 5 game winning streaks. Boston will try to get back on their winning ways as they start a 3 game series against the Orioles tonight.

Red Sox 11 Nationals 3

Sox are so much better then the Nationals that it is hard to watch. Boston's bats exploded last night. Ellsbury went 4-4 with 3 RBIs, and Jason Bay continued his MVP like season going 4-6 with 3 RBIs including his 19th HR of the year as Boston walked all over the Nationals.

Penny wasn't great going 5 2/3 innings letting up 3 runs, but once he left the game the Sox bullpen shut the Nationals down. That's also when the Boston bats started heating up. It was 4-3 going into the 8th inning, but Boston put the game out of reach with a 6 run inning. Even with all the scoring the story of the game was Boston's bullpen once again being amazing. Delcarmen (who got the win), Okajima, Saito, and Bard combined to pitch 3 1/3 scoreless innings. You can really see the difference between a good team and a bad one when you see what their bullpen can do. The Nationals got a good start from Lannan, but the second he left the game the Sox crushed their bullpen.

With the win Boston is now 5 games over the Yankees and Jays for 1st place in the AL East.

Red Sox 6 Marlins 1

The Red Sox enjoyed their 500th straight sellout last night by pounding the Marlins. Penny got his 6th win of the season, but there was a scary moment when he took a line drive off his chest. To be honest I kind of laughed, because it would have most likely given the Sox less headaches with the logjam they have in their rotation, but he was fine and pitched well.

Penny (6-2) allowed one unearned run on three hits and four walks, striking out three in 5 innings of work. He has not allowed an earned run in 11 innings over his last two starts. Penny let up a run, but it wasn't an earned run as Jacoby was charged with his first error ever in center field. You have to say that it is going to be very tough to take Penny out of the rotation with the way he is pitching right now, but we will have more on that later.

So, the Marlins were up 1-0 after the error by Ellsbury, but that didn't last long. Boston scored 2 runs in the second, 1 of them off a Rocco Baldelli RBI single, and the other from Tek, but he hit into a double play. Rocco has been playing much better of late, and we are starting to see his batting average rise. This is great news for the Sox as they are really going to need him as a backup for Drew, and against left handers. Boston wasn't done as they tagged on another 2 runs in the 4th off a Pedroia single. Hopefully this means he is coming out of his slump.

The game was over even though Penny's pitch count was high and he was chased out of the game, Boston's bullpen is just too good and they don't give up leads. Ellsbury made up for his error by knocking his 3rd HR of the year into the stands, and Pedroia ended his fantastic game with another RBI which gave him 3 on the day.

With the Yankees losing last night the Nationals (HAHAHAHAHA), Boston is now up 3 games in the AL East.

Yankees 3 Red Sox 4

8-0

Yea that is the Red Sox record against the Yankees this year. The Sox have beat them in every conceivable way. They have blown them out, hung on, out pitched, out hit, and just play smarter baseball then the Yankees.

Last night the Sox 5th starter beat the Yankees #1, who was supposed to turn around this franchise. Penny gave the Sox 6 scoreless innings. It was the first time we really got to see what Penny can do. He left it all on the field, and threw everything but the kitchen sink at the Yankees. In prior games Penny was all about pounding the strike zone with his fast ball. Last night he threw everything he had and worked the counts to keep the Yankees off balance. If this is one of the last starts for Penny in a Red Sox uniform he gave one hell of an audition for the rest of the league. He was even touching 97 MPH on the radar gun. I really can't say enough about how well he pitched.

CC Sabathia also had a solid game. He gave the Yankees 7 innings, which was big for them since none of their starters had lasted more then 2 2/3 innings in the other 2 games against the Sox. Boston jumped out to a 1-0 lead after Ortiz hit a solo shot over the Green Monster. Big Papi really looked like the Ortiz from the glory days when he used to be able to hit whatever he wanted to opposite field. The Yankees took the lead in the 7th. It really looked the wheels were coming off for the Sox after Penny left the game. Delcarmen let up 3 runs on 3 hits in the 7th. After a Cervelli RBI doubled to left field, A-Rod followed with an double to center that scored Cervelli and Damon to make the score 3-1. It looked as if A-Rod was finally going to be a hero, but at this point we should all know better.

Boston came up in the 8th and ripped apart the Yankees. Drew, Bay, and Lowell each got an RBI in the inning and the Sox went back on top 4-3. All that was left was Papelbon to close out the 9th inning and the Sox had swept the series and made it 9 in a row (if you go back to September of last season). He got it done in only 9 pitches, and the Sox are now 2 games up on the Yankees for 1st place in the AL East.

There are so many great things about this game. Obviously the fact of winning all 8 games against the Yankees is awesome, but it gets better. Having the Sox 5th starter beat the Yankees star offseason pickup was amazing, then on top of that have their other big acquisition (Teixeira) go 0-5 just makes me want to pinch myself to see if I am dreaming. Anyways, this was probably the most exciting game of the year. Hope you all watched it....