Morale Boost for Penny Comes Right Off Bench

I had no idea until Tuesday why the Dodgers traded for Hee-Seop Choi until it became apparent they needed some stiff to build pitcher Brad Penny’s confidence in a monumental batting practice session to determine whether Penny’s arm will be ready for the playoffs.

The Dodgers also sent catcher David Ross up against Penny, and Penny had to be feeling like Sandy Koufax.

I complimented General Manager Paul DePodesta for his forward computer thinking in acquiring a guy who can’t hit for occasions like this, but DePodesta steered the chat in a different direction and said, “I still think Choi had a very successful year.”

Holy Kevin Malone and Dan Evans, here we go again. Choi has nine hits in 55 at-bats, and the Micro Manager has glued Choi’s fanny to the bench.

“There’s still a lot there to build on,” DePodesta said after tearing apart the Dodgers at the trade deadline. “It was a good deal, and I don’t think I’m alone on that one. I had a reporter ask me recently if I wanted the chance to say, ‘I told you so.’ A reporter from here in Los Angeles.”

Did Jack Haley start covering baseball games when I wasn’t looking?

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DePODESTA HAS made the decision to bring back Jim Tracy to Micro Manage the Dodgers the next few years, which is another one of his already patented surprises.

When DePodesta traded Guillermo Mota, he essentially changed the way the Micro Manager had been running the team, which suggested DePodesta had his own plan and commander in mind.

“That wasn’t the case,” DePodesta said. “Tracy and his staff have done a good job, and even you would have to admit the team has exceeded expectations.”

To be accurate, the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres exceeded my expectations: I had no idea they would be this bad.

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CHOI JUST got a chance to pinch-hit. Make that nine for 56.

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DePODESTA REMAINS as confident as ever in his abilities, and with a magic number now of 11 to eliminate the Padres and 14 to oust the Giants, he’s on pretty solid ground.

“If we win the whole thing, it shouldn’t be lauded as a great trade,” he said, “and if we collapse and don’t make it, it shouldn’t be called one of the worst ever.”

If the Dodgers collapse, DePodesta will make everyone forget Evans and Malone.

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FOR 24 years business owners in Orange County have come together for the Amigos de los Ninos (friends of the children) luncheon, and the chance to distribute money to organizations dedicated to improving the lives of challenged children.

Chuck Knox, Jerry West, John Wooden, Tom Lasorda and Mike Ditka have been among the guest speakers, which makes it difficult to explain why I was invited to speak Tuesday. When I took my seat and found Pastor John Werhas, a former Dodger, sitting next to me, I thought maybe the plan was to improve my life.

But after delivering the invocation, the good pastor picked up his salad and went and sat somewhere else. At least I felt at home.

There was a nice tribute to Bill Brundige, who passed away in April after decades of dedicated service on behalf of Amigos de los Ninos, which has given away more than $2 million to help kids.

I can also report that no one threw anything at the speaker -- and the Angels had several employees in attendance -- and there was only one dumb question asked by someone in the audience who wanted to know about the future of the NHL. They were rebuked, and the luncheon ended without further incident.

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MILTON BRADLEY, reacting to Page 2 criticism for grabbing his crotch in Sunday’s game and angrily pointing to St. Louis pitcher Matt Morris from the Dodger dugout, said “every player at one time or another grabs their crotch on TV,” and then asked Shawn Green, who was walking by, whether he had done the same thing, and Green said, “I’ve never done that.”

Bradley couldn’t understand why he was being criticized, and I couldn’t understand why he wasn’t apologizing for losing control of his emotions once again, which was caught on Channel 13.

“You’re the only one who has brought it up,” Bradley said. “None of the other reporters, my friends, even my mom, who tapes the game and watches them over and over, said anything.” Shame on all of them.

Baseball fan Sam Kaiser e-mailed Page 2: “That was quite a display on Sunday by Milton Bradley. My 10-year-old son saw it clearly, and he asked me what Milton was doing. Ah, what a lovely family day at the old ballpark, eh?”

I offered Bradley a chance to amend his “I don’t care” comments from a day earlier, given the fact that he’ll be visiting a Long Beach school today, and he said, “Why should I?” Never mind.

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BRADLEY APPROACHED another reporter a little later and told him to give me a message: “Tell T.J. I want to write his column someday.”

He’ll change his mind when he learns we have censors.

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TODAY’S LAST word comes in e-mail from Patrick Teubner:

“Baseball, as an institution, is such a joke. The players are pampered babies. Do you see football players charging the stands? And football is the most violent sport in America. Baseball players are fat, lazy, they strike, complain about salaries and the length of the season and then attack fans. My hero is the guy at the fire station who makes 28K and puts up with hell. I HATE THIS GAME.”

More than 6 million fans have bought tickets to watch the Angels and Dodgers in person this season, and many of them probably agree with you.

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T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Simers, go to latimes.com/simers.