PENNY PROVES WORTH HE HOLDS ROCKIES SCORELESS INTO 9TH DODGERS 3, COLORADO 0.

Byline: TONY JACKSON  Staff Writer

DENVER -- Fourteen months ago, Brad Penny walked into Coors Field on a miserably cold and wet spring morning, with even more trepidation than most visiting starters bring to what has always been a black hole for pitchers.

The Dodgers right-hander was about to make his first major-league appearance since the previous September, and his hope was that he would prove to the world -- but mostly to himself -- that the mysterious, career-threatening nerve problem in his elbow was finally behind him.

It was a markedly different Penny who took the mound here Friday night. This time, there was no fear, no anxiety and no hesitation.

For the Colorado Rockies, there was no offense.

Penny became the first Dodgers pitcher this season to last into the ninth inning and fell two outs short of joining an elite list of men who have tossed shutouts in baseball's most notorious hitters' haven. Instead, he watched from the dugout as Takashi Saito put the final touch on a masterful, 3-0victory over the Rockies in front of 30,455 fans.

Penny has come a long way since that triumphant return on April 25, 2005, when he didn't get a decision in a game the Dodgers eventually won but did manage to come away with the peace of mind he so desperately needed.

``I think about that injury,'' Penny said. ``That's why I'm always going to put in my thorough preparation. I won't be lazy. I'm going to get my work done, so if something like that does happen again, it won't be because of a lack of work.''

In pitching the Dodgers into a first-place tie with Arizona in the National League West, Penny took advantage of the Rockies' tendency to swing early in the count by sticking mostly with his fastball and a little with his curve, eschewing entirely a splitter that both he and rookie catcher Russell Martin said was never needed.

As a result, Penny held the Rockies to five hits over 8 1/3 dominating innings, doing so in a stunningly efficient 117 pitches.

``He just tried to throw strikes early,'' Martin said. ``When the pitcher gets ahead, as a hitter, you have to start swinging the bat.''

Although there had been only 14previous complete-game shutouts at Coors -- one of them a no-hitter by then-Dodger Hideo Nomo a decade ago -- manager Grady Little wasn't as concerned with history as he was with preserving the Dodgers' three-run lead, a cushion that remains tentative in this ballpark even in the well-documented era of the humidor.

Thus, the decision was made entering the eighth inning that Penny would be lifted as soon as a runner reached base. It didn't happen until there was one out in the ninth, when Cory Sullivan ended an extended at-bat with a single to center.

With that, Little brought in Saito, who got two quick outs for his third save.

Penny patted his skipper on the back of the shoulder on his way off the mound, in stark contrast to the nationally televised temper tantrum he had thrown in Atlanta 11 days earlier, when Little had taken him out of a game with a three-run lead in the fifth inning.

Having just given the Dodgers their strongest performance by a starting pitcher this season, Penny (7-1) seemed OK with it this time.

``There weren't any coolers getting hit or anything,'' Little said. ``So I guess he was.''

The Dodgers (34-27) took a 2-0lead in the third inning on a single by Ramon Martinez, a triple by Martin and a single by Penny. They extended it to 3-0 in the seventh after a one-out walk by Rafael Furcal and the second double of the game by Nomar Garciaparra, a hit that sent Byung-Hyun Kim (3-4) to the showers.

In his past 25 games, Garciaparra is hitting .680 (17 for 25) from the seventh inning on.

Penny gave up a one-out single to Sullivan in the first inning, but Garciaparra fielded a hot smash from Todd Helton and turned it into an inning-ending double play. Penny walked Matt Holliday to begin the second, but Garrett Atkins hit an easy double-play bouncer to Furcal. After giving up a one-out single to Clint Barmes in the third, Penny caught Barmes too far off first and picked him off after a rundown.

From there, Penny settled in and sailed, running his career mark at Coors to 4-1 with a 3.16 earned-run average.

tony.jackson(at)dailynews.com

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CAPTION(S):

3 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) Brad Penny threw 8 1/3 shutout innings against the Rockies on Friday.

(2) Dodgers relief pitcher Takashi Saito, right, celebrates the victory with catcher Russell Martin.

(3) Colorado's Matt Holliday, front, reacts after striking out to end the game -- a 3-0 Dodgers victory.

David Zalubowski/Associated Press

Box:

DODGERS at COLORADO

- Tony Jackson