Considering where he was pitching, I thought Penny did a pretty good job.

His velocity was mostly 88-91, but he did hit 95 once. He was probably about 3 MPH slower than that, because either the thin air adds to velocity or else the Rockies have a fast gun in their park. I've noticed other pitchers throwing harder there than they do in other parks.

After watching Perez and Weaver get bashed around, my expectations for Penny were minimal. He surpassed them, so I traded Jason Schmidt to get Penny on my team. It helped to get a certain Ranger 2B as a throw in.

Thank you Nomar, for making this trade necessary.

Penny is at his best when he takes a little off his fastball.

I hope he has a great year. Shall the Marlins rue the day they let him get away for a thirty-something year old catcher.

Shall the Marlins rue the day they let him get away for a thirty-something year old catcher.

Beats letting him get away for Matt Mantei.

LoDuca's a pretty good catcher. Off to another fine start. Marlins should either trade him July 31st, let someone else suffer his typical fade, or get him a lot of rest so he can be productive for the whole year.

They could have kept Penny and not spent money on Leiter, but then they'd have no closer and a replacement level catcher.

I think if Penny regains his early 2004 form both teams can be happy about the trade.

After watching Perez and Weaver get bashed around, my expectations for Penny were minimal. He surpassed them

Another possible factor is that it was cold (box score had 46 deg F) and rainy whereas the previous two games were on nice, sunny days.

I was at the game; once it started raining (4th or 5th inning) Coors Field was an empty cavern.

BTW, the gun readings for Francis's fb were around 87-89, which is pretty much where I've seen him on the road.

All things considered, I think 4 runs in 5 innings is a quality start for Coors field.