Penny has plenty of zip

For most of his career Brad Penny has been a thrower, not a pitcher. A big, raw-boned country boy who just reared back and let the ball fly -- sometimes with little idea of where it might be going.

And anyone who thought Penny might have become a finesse pitcher just because he used more than his fastball to get off to a 3-0 start this season knows now the old Penny really hasn’t left, he’s just been hiding.

He reappeared Monday at Dolphin Stadium, once again lighting up the radar gun while striking out a career-high 14 in seven innings to pitch the Dodgers to 6-1 win over the Florida Marlins.

“He had the best fastball I’ve seen all season,” Dodgers catcher Russell Martin said. “I saw they weren’t hitting it so we just kept going with it.”

Good call. Penny, after all, was dominating, fanning five of the first six Marlins to top his season high for strikeouts by the second inning. And Florida, the top scoring team in the National League coming in, didn’t even get a hit until Miguel Cabrera legged out an infield single in the fourth -- an inning Penny finished by striking out the side.

He struck out 10 of the first 13 batters he saw, getting at least two in every inning but the sixth when, inexplicably, he retired the side on three fly balls. And when he got Eric Reed swinging to end the seventh, Penny became the first Dodger to strike out 14 since Chan Ho Park nearly seven years ago -- and the first Dodger since Sandy Koufax in 1965 to strike out at least 14 without walking a batter.

He also came within one of matching his strikeout total from his first six starts combined while running his scoreless-innings streak to 13 and lowering his earned-run average to 1.39.

“I love pitching here,” Penny said of Dolphin Stadium, his home for his first 4 1/2 major league seasons. “The mound’s huge and it’s definitely good for a guy like me who throws hard.”

Too good sometimes. During his time in Florida, Penny became so enraptured with how hard he threw that Manager Jack McKeon had the radar gun turned off during his starts in an effort to get the right-hander to focus on strikes, not speed.

Penny doesn’t peek any longer, partly because the splitters and curveballs he’s been relying on this spring don’t light up the scoreboard like his old fastball did.

Monday, however, the fastball was back, regularly registering in the high 90s. So the Dodgers stayed with it.

“He played hardball with them tonight,” Manager Grady Little said. “He stayed within himself and let his natural abilities take over. Brad didn’t shy away from anyone.”

Added Marlins Manager Fredi Gonzalez: “Today he looked like a power pitcher. There was no finesse there.”

The Dodgers gave Penny all the offense he would need in the second inning when Jeff Kent drove Ricky Nolasco’s first pitch into the seats high above the left-field scoreboard and, three batters later, Andy LaRoche’s sacrifice fly scored Martin to make it 2-0.

But just to be sure the Dodgers batted around in the fourth, scoring four times on five hits including a double by Kent, a triple by Martin and Penny’s two-run single through a drawn-in infield.

The Marlins awoke just briefly in the eighth, averting their first shutout of the season on Dan Uggla’s two-out home run.

By then Penny was back in the clubhouse, examining a picture from the first inning that may have shown the real secret to his success: he struck out the first two batters pitching with his fly wide open.

“Before the first pitch I always go back and re-tuck my jersey. I just forgot to re-zip,” Penny said with a laugh. “I’ll have to start all my games like that now.”

kevin.baxter@latimes.com

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Specializing in Ks

Brad Penny became the 10th L.A. Dodger to record 14 or more strikeouts in a game. It has been done 27 times. Sandy Koufax (twice) and Ramon Martinez share the team record with 18:

*--* Player No. High Sandy Koufax 12 18 Ramon Martinez 1 18 Hideo Nomo 3 17 Fernando Valenzuela 3 15 Chan Ho Park 1 14 Orel Hershiser 1 14 Bill Singer 1 14 Don Drysdale 3 14 Johnny Podres 1 14 Brad Penny 1 14

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