The arm, the outburst and the poor water cooler

There's more or less full story about why Grady Little pulled Brad Penny two outs away from a decision in yesterday's game. It sheds new light on what Blue Man saw as an error on the part of Little to pull his starter reasonably early when he ran into his first jam of the season.

It seems like the coaching staff had known earlier that there was something wrong with Penny's arm:

"My shoulder was hurting," said Penny. "It's killing me last game,
they know it's killing me this game, I'm out there pitching hurt,
and the first jam I get into all year and I don't get a chance
to get out of it. We still had a three-run lead."

Pitching coach Rick Honeycutt claims it's part of the starter's feedback to let his manager know whether an injury or discomfort would prevent the pitcher from doing his job effectively:

"He told me his arm didn't feel 100 percent, but part of the
responsibility of a pitcher is, he's got to be honest with us --
can you go or not go?" said Honeycutt.
"I don't know of an outing where we put him in danger.
We've left it to his discretion. His stuff was not up to normal
from the very start today. He didn't have his normal fastball,
but there've been other outings where it would come
or he would add to it."

I missed Penny's outburst where he took a swing at the water cooler, but at this stage I'm far more concerned with Penny's arm than his (or water cooler's) psyche. As tough a guy and competitor as Brad is, he'll replace the broken fuse and keep rolling. If only the arm kept him there...