Thursday, March 4, 2010
JUPITER, Fla. – Thankful to be out of Fenway Park and back in the National League for a full season, offseason addition Brad Penny will make his first Cardinals start on Friday when they host the Mets at Roger Dean Stadium.
After going 7-8 with a 5.61 ERA in 24 starts with Boston, Penny was released and picked up by the Giants, where he went 4-1 with a 2.59 ERA in six starts.
The difference, Penny says, was simple.
“Playing in a smaller field,” Penny said of the cozy Fenway Park. “Foul balls aren’t outs, they’re extra pitches. There were a few games I didn’t give up a run in San Francisco where I would have given up four or five in Boston just because the difference in the field.”
Coming off a shoulder injury that cut short his previous year in Los Angeles, Penny signed with the Red Sox primarily because of the reputation of their doctor’s work with shoulder injuries.
And while Penny was 100 percent healthy to start the year, he struggled with his command – not a good recipe for success no matter how small the ballpark.
“I was getting behind in the counts,” Penny said. “I had, I don’t know how many quality starts, I would say over half of them were quality starts. When I had a bad one it was for 6 to 8 runs for whatever reason.
“I had year off of not throwing with my stuff. It was kind of playing with a new toy. You come back and you have to try to harness it and control it again and it took a little bit.”
Penny has a career 4.14 ERA in 10 major league seasons for the Marlins, Dodgers, Red Sox and Giants. The Cardinals are hoping for similar results to his 2007 campaign, when he went 16-4 with a 3.03 ERA in 33 starts for Los Angeles.
The addition of Penny to a starting rotation that already includes Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter and a healthy Kyle Lohse gives the Cardinals arguably the best starting group in the National League.
Penny choose the Cardinals over the San Francisco Giants, wanting to fulfill a life-long goal of playing in St. Louis.
He also picked the Cardinals for another reason.
“I think St. Louis has a better chance of winning to be honest with you,” Penny said. “It should be a lot of fun. That’s the reason I signed here, the reason you put the uniform on – to play in October.”
With Penny in the fold, the Cardinals hope to do just that.
Craig misses trip with injury to left quad muscle
Cardinals outfielder Allen Craig didn’t make the trip to Port St. Lucie on Thursday due to pain in his left quadriceps muscle.
Manager Tony La Russa initially said it was Craig's hamstring before it was confirmed that it was the left quad. La Russa hoped he would only miss a few days.
"His hamstring is barking and Barry (Weinberg, head athletic trainer) doesn’t want to push it," La Russa said before the Cardinals played the Mets. "I was actually going to play him today but he got scratched. His hammy is bothering some.
"At this point in the spring, I would doubt that he’d play this weekend."
The Cardinals left Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday and Yadier Molina back in Jupiter to hit live off pitcher Adam Wainwright, who is throwing to hitters for the final time.
La Russa said Mets starter, knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, was a reason in leaving the three off the road trip, but that facing Wainwright would be more beneficial for all involved.
"It was a factor," La Russa said. "But there were other things to consider. We really looked at the whole weekend. It was a real good chance to have a work day back there with them hitting against Wainwright. He will get a lot out of it and so will the hitters. Yadi and Matt and Albert, Felipe (Lopez) and (Tyler) Henley, two lefts, three rights - that was more important."
Cardinals ink deals with 24 players, 40-man roster now all under contract
The Cardinals announced Thursday morning that they have reached agreement with all 24 pre-arbitration players on one-year contracts for the 2010 season. With the announcement, the Cardinals now have their entire 40-man roster under contract.
The list of players the Cardinals agreed to terms with includes pitchers Mitchell Boggs, Jaime Garcia, Blake Hawksworth, Ben Jukich, Josh Kinney, Kyle McClellan, Jason Motte, Tyler Norrick, Adam Ottavino, Francisco Samuel and P.J. Walters; catchers Bryan Anderson and Matt Pagnozzi; infielders David Freese, Tyler Greene, Mark Hamilton and Brendan Ryan and outfielders Allen Craig, Jon Jay, Daryl Jones, Joe Mather, Colby Rasmus, Shane Robinson and Nick Stavinoha.
Single-game tickets on sale Friday
The Cardinals will put single-game regular season tickets on sale at 10 a.m. central time on Friday. Fans can purchase tickets online at cardinals.com, by phone at 314-345-9000, or in-person at participating Schnucks stores and all Cardinals Clubhouse Stores. The Busch Stadium ticket windows will open on Monday, March 8 at 9 a.m.
On tap
The Cardinals will host the Mets on Friday at Roger Dean Stadium at 12:05 p.m. central time. Penny will face the Mets’ Jonathon Niese. Scheduled to follow Penny on the mound will be Lance Lynn, Mitchell Boggs, Ben Jukich and Fernando Salas.
Pujols, Holliday and Molina are expected to be in the starting lineup and make their Grapefruit League debuts.
Contact Globe-Democrat.com sports writer B.J. Rains at bjrains@globe-democrat.com. You can also follow him on twitter at twitter.com/bjrains.
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