Penny encouraged by first batting practice session

February 24, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — Brad Penny began his slow windup, then accelerated and fired the ball past the hitter, showing no signs that his shoulder had ever been hurt.

When he was done with his first batting practice session of spring training Monday, he chatted with Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek between the mound and home plate. Then Penny met briefly with pitching coach John Farrell beside the batting cage.

“Today was an encouraging step for him,” Farrell said.

Boston’s new right-hander had thrown 30 pitches — fastballs, breaking balls and splitters — and stayed on track to be ready for the start of the regular season.

“I felt great,” Penny said. “Today, for me, answered a lot of questions, mentally and physically. I didn’t even know what to expect going out there the first time facing hitters, but everything felt great.”

The Red Sox hope his windup style — start slowly and end with a surge — mirrors his season.

With a strong rotation, they’re not rushing Penny, whose shoulder problems limited him to 19 games last season with the Los Angeles Dodgers and just nine innings after June 14.

He’s throwing off a mound every third day while nearly all other Boston pitchers are doing it every second day. But he’s working hard on his conditioning and the rest of the program the team has set up for him.

And that’s what Farrell cares about, not about Los Angeles coach Larry Bowa’s comments that Penny was lazy and out of shape and missed meetings. The Red Sox signed him to a one-year, $5 million contract after the Dodgers didn’t pick up his option.

“I have really no reaction to what feedback is coming from the Dodgers,” Farrell said. “What we have to base our judgments on are what he shows us day in and day out. ... There have been no issues as far as him fitting in and matching the intensity the other pitchers are showing around him.”

Penny began the back-and-forth with Bowa when he told Yahoo Sports that he was upset that Dodgers management questioned whether he was injured and that Bowa talked behind his back.

Asked Monday if he had any comment on Bowa’s remarks, the pitcher said, “no, not at all.”

Instead, the discussion focused on the health of his shoulder and the go-slow approach the Red Sox are taking. He won’t pitch in an exhibition game until March 5, eight days after Wednesday’s opener.

“I feel 100 percent,” Penny said. “I would want to go out there every other day, but it’s probably being smarter and giving me more time to strengthen my shoulder to where it should have been last year and it wasn’t.”

After consecutive 16-win seasons with the Dodgers, Penny finished at 6-9 with a 6.27 ERA. He went 1-7 after May 2.

That was quite a decline from when he was the NL starter in the 2006 All-Star game and when he finished third in Cy Young Award voting in 2007.