LITTLE GETS PENNY'S WORTH OF THOUGHTS L.A. STARTER ANGERED AFTER BEING PULLED DODGERS 12, ATLANTA 5.

Byline: TONY JACKSON Staff Writer

ATLANTA -- It should have been about another stirring victory by the surging Dodgers.

After all, it was a 12-5 win over the Atlanta Braves in front of 41,825 on Monday at Turner Field. Instead, it was about everything but that, including a nationally televised temper tantrum that had everything to do with the individual throwing it and nothing to do with the team he plays for.

Dodgers right-hander Brad Penny, who later would say of his balky right shoulder that it was ``killing'' him, was cruising along with a seven-run lead after four innings. He began the fifth by retiring Ryan Langerhans on a fly ball to center. Then he gave up hits to each of the next six batters, turning that comfortable, 8-1 cushion into an uneasy 8-5 lead.

Dodgers manager Grady Little had seen enough. He yanked Penny, who still needed two outs to achieve the minimum five innings required for a starting pitcher to be credited with a win.

Penny barked at Little on his way off the mound and pounded his glove with his right hand near the third-base line. After reaching the dugout, with a TBS television camera trained directly on him, Penny yelled and gestured briefly at pitching coach Rick Honeycutt, then picked up a bat and slammed it to the floor.

Joe Beimel came in and threw one pitch, getting an inning-ending, double-play grounder from Adam LaRoche to end the threat. Beimel then worked a perfect sixth and was credited, by scorer's discretion, with the victory Penny couldn't secure for himself.

More than an hour later, Penny's anger hadn't subsided.

``My shoulder is hurting,'' said Penny, making that fact public for the first time. ``It was killing me my last game, and it was killing me this game. I went out there and pitched hurt. That's the first jam I have been in all year, and I didn't get a chance to get out of it. If you look at my numbers against LaRoche, they're very good.''

LaRoche is 1 for 5 lifetime against Penny. Chipper Jones, who had singled home a run two batters earlier, is 12 for 38 against Penny.

``I just didn't appreciate not getting a chance to finish that inning with a three-run lead,'' Penny said. ``If they were going to take me out, they should have done it when Chipper came up because of what he has done against me.''

All this on a day set aside to honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. All this on a day when the Dodgers won.

``Its something that will be addressed,'' said a bemused Little, who said he didn't plan to meet with Penny until today. ``I thought he was still throwing pretty good. The ball was coming out of his hand good, but they were just getting hits. At that point right there, with the score 8-5, I felt like that was the right time to make a move.

``Those are decisions I have to make every day.''

Penny said his shoulder began bothering him in his previous start, Tuesday night against Colorado, when he told Little and Honeycutt he was done after five innings with the Dodgers leading 4-0. Penny skipped his between-starts throwing session and conceded his velocity was noticeably down in this start.

Little downplayed the injury.

``If anybody is ever hurt bad enough that he can't pitch, we won't pitch him,'' Little said.

Honeycutt also seemed surprised Penny had characterized his injury as being so severe.

``What (Penny) told us was that his arm wasn't 100 percent,'' Honeycutt said. ``Part of their (players') responsibility is that they have to be honest with us. They have to be able to answer the question of whether they can go or not go. ... That (tirade) isn't something I condone. That wasn't a professional way to handle it by any means.''

The Dodgers (29-22) responded to the outbursts -- both Atlanta's and Penny's -- with a single run in the sixth on an RBI base hit by Matt Kemp. Kemp went 2 for 3 with a walk, three runs scored, a sacrifice fly and two RBIs to raise his average in his two-day, major-league career to .429 (3 for 7). Ramon Martinez, who started in place of the still-injured Jeff Kent and drove in a career-high five runs, hit a three-run homer off Chad Paronto in the ninth.

Beimel (2-0) retired all four batters he faced.

The Dodgers chased Braves starter John Thomson (2-4) after taking a 7-0 lead with one out in the second.

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CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) Dodgers starter Brad Penny, right, protests being pulled from the game by manager Grady Little on Monday.

(2) Atlanta catcher Todd Pratt loses the ball as Dodgers first baseman Nomar Garciaparra scores in the first inning in Los Angeles' win Monday.

Rob Carr/Associated Press

Box:

DODGERS at ATLANTA

- Tony Jackson