DODGERS NOTEBOOK: DODGERS WAIT FOR PUNISHMENT.

Byline: TONY JACKSON Staff Writer

PHOENIX -- The Dodgers didn't hear from Major League Baseball on Friday about Wednesday night's separate melees in San Diego in which infielder Julio Lugo and pitcher Brad Penny were ejected. Manager Grady Little also was booted with Penny by plate umpire Rick Reed.

Little said he still expects fines to be handed down, but he doesn't expect suspensions.

``I certainly can't see why there would be,'' Little said.

Meanwhile, Little revealed that he met with Penny earlier this season and asked him to stay more in control of his emotions on the mound. Penny now has been involved in three incidents in which he lost his temper.

He yelled at Little on his way off the field and threw a tantrum in the dugout after being lifted from a game in the fifth inning on May 29 at Atlanta. He sparred verbally with center fielder Kenny Lofton in the dugout during a game against San Diego on July 26. And then, also against the Padres, he did battle on three different occasions with Reed, who eventually tossed him in the bottom of the fifth.

``I think (Penny) has done an outstanding job this season of working on that and has been better,'' Little said. ``He and I talked about that a little. I think it has helped his performance on the mound tremendously.

(Wednesday), if I had been the one pitching, I think I would have been upset, too.''

Little refused to criticize Penny's decision to stop and talk to Reed on his way off the field after both the first and third innings to complain about the inconsistency of Reed's strike zone. Those discussions set the tone for the acrimony between Penny and Reed throughout the four-plus innings Penny was in the game.

``Brad does that all the time,'' Little said. ``He is a friendly fellow. He stops and talks. It could be after a tough inning or a one-two-three inning.''

Feeling spry: Russell Martin entered Friday night's game at Arizona in a 1 for 21 slide with six strikeouts, but Little refused to acknowledge the rookie catcher is in a slump.

``This kid, he may not have any hits in his last 20 at-bat, but I can count 10 balls he has hit right on the nose that weren't base hits,'' Little said.

Little also said Martin is holding up well to the grind of his first major-league season.

Also: The Dodgers' Gulf Coast League affiliate in Vero Beach, Fla., whose roster includes top draft picks Clayton Kershaw and Preston Mattingly, was scheduled to play Boston's GCL affiliate in Fort Myers on Friday in the deciding game of their best-of-three championship series. The Dodgers last won the GCL title in 1990.