The Post Mortem

Dodgers pitcher Brad Penny is going to be ripped in the local media for his temper tantrum on Monday. But he should be applauded for it.

The Dodgers had jumped out to a huge early lead over Atlanta, but the Braves had closed the game to 8-5 and had runners on first and third when Manager Grady Little relived the Penny. But why would Penny be so mad?

He had only pitched 4 1/3 innings, meaning he needed just two more outs to qualify for his sixth win of the season.

Penny then had a complete meltdown as he trashed the Dodgers dugout like Billy Idol in a hotel room while yelling at Little and pitching coach Rick Honeycutt. (Seriously, Honeycutt is your pitching coach?)

Some might see something like this and think, Penny is a narcissistic a-hole. But he is our type of guy. The kind of guy that you would want on your fantasy team. Penny had pulled other shenanigans in his last start against Colorado when he asked to be taken out after the fifth inning despite pitching a shutout. Hey, no reason to ruin your ERA when you already have a victory in hand. Again, not great team baseball, perfect fantasy league baseball. You are now encouraged to make a deal for Brad Penny immediately.

• Is it a coincidence that the lights at Long Beach�s Blair Field caught fire the night former Dirtbags pitcher Jered Weaver made his major-league debut? Not to get too excited about one start, but the Angels could have saved about $9M if they had just promoted Jered and neglected to sign Jeff. Did anybody see Jeff Weaver in the dugout? His cheering was about as sincere as Daniel Baldwin rooting on his brothers to win an Oscar. Oh well, maybe Jeff can now balloon up to 300 pounds to live off his more talented siblings.

• At least Long Beach fans will have Weaver to root for as its team was snubbed for the NCAA baseball regionals. The Dirtbags do have a gripe as being swept at home by Cal State Fullerton (twice) should be viewed as more of an honor than anything else. Fullerton opens its regional with St. Louis as odds makers give the Titans the edge in coaching (George Horton over Tony LaRussa).

• SI�s Peter King and Don Banks have already weighed in with their Super Bowl predictions. King sees the Cowboys over the Patriots. If Brett Favre was ever traded to a team coached by Bill Parcells or Bill Belichick, you would figure that King�s heart would explode. Banks is picking the Colts because it�s never to early to go with the chalk pick.

AND FINALLY

Remember how strange Ricky Williams seemed when he appeared bare footed at his return news conference with the Dolphins last year? Its seems like it is becoming a tradition. Click here to read a first-hand account.