Luck hasn't been on his side, I will give him that. Penny has had to deal with a .326 BABIP, while surrendering line drives on only 18 percent of batted balls against. And his LOB percentage is at 66, which is far too low. Eventually, he should strand a few more base-runners.
But it is his love with the fastball, and the home run that is killing him. Do you know how often Penny throws the fastball? 73 percent of the time! This is the American League East, Brad. There has to be somewhat of a reliance on the breaking stuff too. Maybe he doesn't feel comfortable throwing it. And he doesn't always seem to have command of it. But his curveball has a "Pitch Type Value" of -15.4. That is horrendous.
Point is, he has no viable pitch outside of the fastball, and at times he even struggles with that. That is why he is so reliant on it. he simply cannot do anything positive with the breaking ball.
When the 2009 season began, there was very little doubt in anyone's mind that the Red Sox had both the depth and talent in the starting rotation for it to be considered, not only the teams' primary strength, but what made them favorites to advance to the World Series from the American League.
With dueling aces at the top in Josh Beckett and Jon Lester, depth in the middle with Daisuke Matsuzaka, Tim Wakefield, and Brad Penny, and a plethora of options at the end ranging from top prospect Clay Buchholz to perennial All-Star and future Hall of Fame pitcher, John Smoltz, the front office had covered the rotation in spades. And that doesn't even look more deeply into the farm system or bullpen where the likes of Justin Masterson (since dealt away), Michael Bowden, and Junichi Tazawa lurked.
Looks like Clay Buchholz' most recent start has earned him a stay in the Red Sox rotation as Tim Wakefield fell victim to some lower back pain as a result of a recent side session pushing Buchholz back to the bigs for tomorrow's game.
Theo has been well versed in using DL stints to create roster flexibility and I'll have a hard time being convinced that Wake's "extended vacation" is anything serious or anything more than a way to keep Buchholz at the Major League level. Given the shaky outings from John Smoltz and the trade deadline and Brad Penny's whereabouts within looming, I am not surprised that Buchholz is "in play".
During the game yesterday, Oakland Athletics shortstop Orlanda Cabrera was shown on camera asking a teammate "how can you hit that." Carbera was referencing Tim Wakefield's knuckleball that was dancing all around the plate last night.