THIS DECISION A LITTLE STRANGE.

Byline: STEVE DILBECK

NEW YORK - That was Brad Penny out there, giving it up again, struggling with control, sitting down the losing pitcher.

Brad Penny, former World Series hero, walking the wrong guys, giving up the winning hits to the wrong players, missing when he needed to connect.

And there is surprise in this?

Penny had been one step ahead of miserable almost the entire second half. Penny has a bad back. Penny is a gigantic unknown right now.

The real surprise should be that Dodgers manager Grady Little put him in this situation.

The Dodgers rallied to tie the score 4-4 Wednesday, and Grady calls on his struggling right-hander to start the seventh inning? To make only his second relief appearance of the season?

What is it about Little and postseason pitching that things seem to backfire? He's left in a no-win situation with the Red Sox and Pedro Martinez in 2003 and gets fired.

On Wednesday, he goes to the National League's starting pitcher in the All-Star Game and watches it all unravel.

Only there is no way to know what to expect of Penny right now, no way to actually count on him.

In his last start, Penny could only go one inning against the Rockies. He was a mess.

In the start previous to that, he was lit up by the Diamondbacks. After that, his back issue come to the forefront.

Now in the National League Division series opener against the Mets, in a game the Dodgers very much needed to win, Little goes to him with the score tied in the seventh.

And the game slips away. A chance to steal a game on the road, vanished in a single inning, slipped away in a 6-5 loss.

Those are the kind of mistakes you pay for, and particularly in the postseason, find you are second-guessed over.

``I don't think (Little) should be criticized at all,'' Penny said. ``He didn't go out there and walk those two guys.''

Maybe not, but it almost felt like it.

Apparently, Little felt forced to go to Penny in the seventh because a journeyman reliever cut his pinky dropping a glass and had to be dropped from the Dodgers postseason roster.

Who knew the Dodgers would miss Joe Beimel more than the Mets would Orlando ``El Duque'' Hernandez?

``That was the kind of spot where we were going to use him as soon as we found out we didn't have Beimel,'' Little said. ``That's where I was going to pitch Beimel, in the seventh.''

Beimel had evolved into a reliable seventh-inning reliever this season, particularly down the stretch. It became Beimel in the seventh, Jonathan Broxton in the eighth and Takashi Saito in the ninth.

That effective trio led the bullpen in September, but now was a man short.

Somehow, Little determined Penny was the best man to replace Beimel in that situation in the opener.

``Penny was our best option right there,'' Little said.

That doesn't say much for his confidence in Brett Tomko, Aaron Sele or Chad Billingsley, all of whom were available in the bullpen.

Penny has proved a frustrating experience for months. Prior to his All- Star start, he was 10-2 with a 2.91 ERA. Since the break, he is 6-7 with a 6.25 ERA, and his past two weeks were his worst.

The first batter he faced in the seventh was shortstop Jose Reyes, the man who led the majors in stolen bases. Starter Derek Lowe had managed to keep his off the bases in three at-bats, but Penny walked him to open the bottom of the inning.

``The key to the inning was when he missed on a 3-2 pitch to Reyes,'' Little said.

Absolutely no one was stunned when Reyes stole second base with one out. Penny walked Carlos Beltran to bring up Carlos Delgado, who had already homered and singled twice.

With Beimel out and Little having already used his only left-hander, Mark Hendrickson, Penny was his man.

``Unfortunately we were playing him to pull, he went the other way,'' Penny said. ``It was good hitting.''

Delgado hit a hard bouncing drive past diving shortstop Rafael Furcal and into left-center to score Reyes.

David Wright then dropped a blooper into right for another run and the Mets led 6-4.

Penny allowed two runs on two hits and two walks in the seventh and called it a night.

He claimed his back had not bothered him. That he was not uncomfortable coming on in relief.

``I still have to go out there and make pitches,'' Penny said. ``I felt good. I was throwing the ball hard, but it was running on me a little bit. I got behind too many hitters.''

Penny struggled to throw strikes. Ten of his first 15 pitchers were balls. Without his command, Penny was just another guy throwing hard.

Little thought Penny looked good.

``He was throwing the ball as well as we've seen him lately,'' Little said. ``He certainly showed us that his back is healthy.''

He certainly showed he struggled to find the strike zone. Undeterred, Little said he plans to start Penny in Los Angeles in Game 4. Assuming, of course, there is a Game 4.

The Mets are without Martinez. At the last moment they lost Hernandez to a calf injury and were forced Wednesday to go with rookie John Maine as an emergency starter. And they got away with it.

The Dodgers needed to get this game, and couldn't do it.

The Dodgers violated that old unwritten baseball edict that you never make the first two outs of an inning at home plate, particularly on the same play, in the second inning.

And, yes, it could have led to a big inning and changed the complexion on the game.

Yet it didn't actually cost them the game, since they rallied behind a two-run double by Nomar Garciaparra in the top of the seventh tie it.

What ultimately cost them, was Little going to his shaky right-hander in an unfamiliar situation. The result was the only thing that wasn't a surprise.

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