Projo Sox Blog

Brad Penny took a good step towards joining the rotation on time today, allowing two runs in four innings. Penny wasn't at his sharpest today, allowing four hits but the most important number wasn't the runs or the hits: it was his pitch count, 68.

Penny is trying to get into early-season form after missing much of the spring with weakness in his shoulder -- the same bum shoulder that sent him to the disabled list three times last year. If Penny can get his pitch count high enough and command his pitches well, he could be ready for his first turn in the rotation, April 12 against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Asked if it was possible he could be ready for that start, Penny nodded quickly.

"Yeah, I feel like it is," he said.

Today, he was initially shaky against the Minnesota Twins, allowing two runs in the first inning.

"I was leaking a little bit. My fastball was running back over the plate a little more than I would like," he said.

Penny clamped down after that for three scoreless innings. His split-fingered fastball was particularly effective, inducing one groundball after another from the Minnesota hitters.
"Today it was great, I got a lot of ground balls out of it," he said.

Penny could stay back in Florida for another start if the team decides he needs more work, and Clay Buchholz would likely take his turn in the rotation. Penny is jonesing to head north with the team, however.

"I'd like to go see opening day in Boston, I've heard a lot about it. I'm kind of excited to get out of Ft. Myers, I've been here a long time," he said.

Penny's work, combined with home runs by Jason Bay, Rocco Baldelli, and David Ortiz, gave Boston a 9-4 victory, and its third straight "Mayor's Cup," awarded to the winner of the best-of-five spring series between the Sox and Twins. The two teams both train in

Fort Myers, and Boston has won three of the four meetings this spring already.

The trophy will now remain in the Sox clubhouse. After the game a bottle of champagne sat inside, and a piece of masking tape with the numbers "2009" written on it was applied, joining the tape commemorating the 2008 and 2007 wins.

 Tags  Boston Red Sox Brad Penny Clay Buchholz Dan Barbarisi Minnesota Twins

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