June 20, 2007

Dodgers slug Blue Jays, 10-1
Penny gets lots of support in shelling of Toronto.
BY AL BALDERAS

TORONTO—Brad Penny must be doing something right.

Not only has the All-Star pitcher been getting run support from a Dodgers' offense that can be described as sporadic at best, he got it on a day that he said was one of his worst of the season.

Luis Gonzalez had three hits and drove in four runs to lead a 14-hit attack as the Dodgers beat up on the Toronto Blue Jays, 10-1, Tuesday night at Rogers Centre.

Gonzalez was one of six players who had multiple hits. The 10 runs were the most the Dodgers have scored since May 29. Penny was on the receiving end of that outburst as well.

“I got away with a lot of mistakes,” Penny said after improving to 9-1 while lowering his ERA to 2.12. “That was probably my worst location this year. I got away with a lot of stuff.”

Three runs in the first inning and three more in the second made it possible for Penny to get away with a lot worse — if he needed it. He still pitched well enough to hold the Blue Jays to one run on six hits in seven innings.

The Dodgers wasted little time in getting to Blue Jays starter Dustin McGowan. McGowan pitched against the Dodgers on June 8 at Dodger Stadium and gave up two runs in seven innings. He didn't have much of a chance this time around.

Juan Pierre got things started with a one-out double in the first inning. Consecutive singles by Nomar Garciaparra, Jeff Kent and Gonzalez gave the Dodgers a 2-0 lead. Marlon Anderson, who was back from a stint on the disabled list, increased the lead to 3-0 with an RBI groundout.

Pierre put his speed to work in the second inning, drawing a walk with two outs and stealing second and third. He then scored on a single by Garciaparra. The Dodgers further padded their lead on hits by Kent, Gonzalez and Russell Martin.

“It was most impressive in the second inning when we had two outs and nobody on,” Dodgers manager Grady Little said. “Juan was able to get a walk and create the first run pretty much by himself. Coming back to score three runs like that, after having two outs and nobody on, that's something we haven't seen much of this year. We look forward to having that happen again.”

McGowan was gone after 12/3 innings and suffered his first loss since May 23.

“He had his good velocity but his pitches didn't have the same bite as they did in L.A.,” Gonzalez said of McGowan. “He's throwing 95 to 97, so you know he has great velocity. But his ball, last week, had a lot more movement to it. This week, it just seemed to be a little bit flatter. When you've got a guy throwing that hard, you really don't have to do much work. You've just got to try to square up the ball. We got a couple of hits up the middle early in the game, and after that everything just kind of fell apart on him.”

The Dodgers pounded out their third three-run, four-hit inning of the game in the fourth but this time it was against Jordan De Jong (Cal State Fullerton).

Martin, playing in his home country for the first time since reaching the big leagues, hit a solo home run in the sixth inning to elicit a standing ovation from the 40-plus family and friends in attendance.