Little Decides to Use Penny, and Dodgers Pay the Price

It was nuts. It was chaos. It was completely avoidable.

I’m not talking about J.D. Drew’s decision to tailgate Jeff Kent into home plate in the second inning.

I’m talking about Grady Little decision to drive Brad Penny off a cliff in the seventh.

That car burning beyond the Shea Stadium left-field fence wasn’t the only thing spitting up billows of smoke Wednesday, the Dodgers ending their playoff opener in wreckage as complete as it was familiar.

There is a reason they haven’t won the opening game of a postseason series since Kirk Gibson’s homer 18 years ago. When given a chance to sprint from the starting line, the only thing they learned from Gibby was the limp.

While examining the Dodgers’ 6-5 loss to the New York Mets in their National League Division Series opener, many will not see past the early home plate pileup that cost the Dodgers at least one run while giving major league baseball 30 seconds of eternal video.

As a highlight, it’s compelling. But as evidence, it’s inconclusive.

This game was lost because of something that was just as noisy and messy, but something that happened five innings later.

That was when Little, with the score tied in the top of the seventh inning, decided his best possible reliever would be his most struggling starter.

He passed on Brett Tomko, who has given up only one earned run in his last six appearances.

He passed on Jonathan Broxton, the usual eighth-inning setup man who perhaps could have been stretched in a game this important.

“I believe in Brad Penny,” said Little, bringing in a guy who lasted only three outs in his last start, handing him only the sixth relief appearance of his seven-year career.

Yep, turns out Brad Penny really wouldn’t know a bullpen from a bullfight.

Walk. Flyout. Walk. Single. Single. Game Over.

Said Penny: “It felt a little different coming out of the bullpen, but I thought I had pretty good stuff.”

Said Little: “Penny was our best option there.”

Said Penny: “Don’t blame Grady.”

Little usually manages this flawed team splendidly. But, with the series already having the makings of another Octoberbust, we have to blame somebody.

Get this: With Derek Lowe starting, the Dodgers became one of the only teams in baseball history to pitch two 16-game winners in the same playoff game and lose.

And get this: The losing pitcher in relief in the Dodgers’ first playoff game was the starting pitcher in the All-Star game.

So, yeah, we’re blaming somebody. But before getting to Little, whose first postseason game with the Dodgers raised a muted version of the questions he faced in his last postseason game with the Boston Red Sox, let’s check one other place.

His name is Joe Beimel. He is the team’s left-handed setup reliever, the most important member of the bullpen against the best left-handed-hitting team in baseball.

He also helped force Little’s hand by apparently slicing up his own.

Before the game, it was announced that Beimel would sit out the series after suffering a severe cut to his pitching hand in an accident that he claimed occurred upon dropping a glass in his New York hotel room early Tuesday morning.

Many in the clubhouse believe eyewitness reports that the incident happened in a New York bar, and they’re not thrilled. Beimel could not be reached for comment.

“Him being our go-to lefty, not being able to pitch against this team, it hurts,” Kent said. “It’s just bad timing.”

It hurt even worse in the bottom of the seventh, when Little surely would have used Beimel, considering two of the first four Mets hitters bat naturally left-handed or are better hitters left-handed.

With no Beimel, Little went with something else he frequently uses, his gut.

“I really like the effort Brad has made this week,” Little said. “He’s worked hard, his back his fine, he’s ready to help.”

It was complaints about the bad back after recent bad outings that raised teammates’ eyebrows and sent Penny into Little’s office last weekend to pledge allegiance to teamwork.

Little knows his players play better when they trust him. He wants the embattled Penny, who is scheduled to start Sunday if necessary, to know this more than anybody .

So, much to the surprise of everyone, he called on him.

“We knew the stage he was on, the situation he was in, was very similar to the All-Star game,” Little said.

So were Penny’s 97-mph fastballs. But the similarities ended there.

Where he pounded the corners in Pittsburgh, he was throwing these balls right down the middle or far off the plate.

Jose Reyes worked a full-count walk. One out later, Carlos Beltran worked another full-count walk.

Then Carlos Delgado -- the perfect left-handed-hitting target for a pitcher like Beimel -- grounded a single past a diving Rafael Furcal into left field to drive in a run.

Then David Wright blooped another fastball into right field to produce another run.

When the inning ended, the Mets had the lead and their two best relievers warming up and the knowledge that they had survived with fourth-best starter John Maine.

It was more than enough.

“Walks will kill you,” Penny said.

And, as Grady Little learned again, so will blind loyalty.

Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.