Dodgers manager Joe Torre said he hopes to have lunch with pitcher Brad Penny early in the offseason to discuss the fact that Penny, who is on the 60-day disabled list, didn't stay with the club during its postseason run. Torre also revealed that Penny's absence was a mutual decision.
"We talked about it, and I think it was pretty much a two-way street," Torre said. "He was frustrated being here and not being able to do something." Torre also seemed to imply that Penny was healthy enough -- although it certainly isn't clear that he was -- to have pitched out of the bullpen, something he did twice down the stretch with little success. But apparently, Penny didn't feel that his shoulder was strong enough to pitch at all, either in relief or as a starter.
"It just didn't appear that (he was comfortable coming out of the bullpen)," Torre said. "He just didn't seem like the same guy we had seen."
Penny has a $9.25 million club option for next season -- with a $2 million buyout -- that seems unlikely to be exercised at this point. The Dodgers haven't completely shut the door on the possibility of re-signing him as a free agent, but Torre did add one comment that made it seem like a long shot.
"He is a strong personality," Torre said. "Rather than keeping him here in the mood he was in, which came from his frustration at not being able to contribute, I just tried to do what I felt was best for both parties."
PHILLIES 5, DODGERS 1: Chad Billingsley failed to make it out of the third inning for the second time in two starts in this series, giving up a leadoff homer to Jimmy Rollins and two more runs in the third. Rafael Furcal committed three errors in the fifth, leading to two unearned runs for the Phillies. Manny Ramirez hit his 28th career postseason home run, a solo shot off Cole Hamels with two outs in the sixth, to give the Dodgers their only run.
