Los Angeles Dodgers pitching ace Brad Penny looks forward to watching new third base coach Larry Bowa get in somebody’s face, even if it’s his own.

While Penny professes a great fondness for Grady Little, he believes the Los Angeles Dodgers would have been better off had the former Los Angeles manager or someone on his coaching staff come down harder on the players when mental mistakes were made.

‘‘We damn sure needed it last year. Fourth place,’’ Penny said at the Dodgers’ spring training facility. ‘‘You need somebody to push you. You know Bowa’s doing it for your benefit. I loved watching him in Philly.’’

The 62-year-old Bowa managed the Phillies from 2001-04, coached under Joe Torre with the Yankees the past two years, and joined Torre in Los Angeles when he was hired 3½ months ago to manage the Dodgers.

‘‘Those two guys together — perfect,’’ Penny said, alluding to the good cop-bad cop approach the mellow manager and fiery coach bring. ‘‘This butt-kicking thing in the dugout, it’s going to be huge for us.

‘‘You make a mistake last year, you get a pat on the butt. ‘It’s all right.’ You lose by one run, it’s not all right. We won a World Series (in 2003 with the Florida Marlins) with Jack McKeon as our manager. He knew how to press your buttons. He was as hard on a team as anybody I’ve played for.’’

Bowa smiled when informed of Penny’s comments.

‘‘If we make stupid mistakes, something will be said. If you’re hustling all the way, I have no problem with that,’’ Bowa said. ‘‘Guys running through stop signs, you’re not supposed to do that. If you’re afraid do say something when things go bad, you’re not doing your job.

‘‘Joe Torre is under control at all times. Joe can get mad, he handles it his own way. I don’t hold grudges, but I get stuff off my chest. I didn’t come over here to finish third. I came over here to play in October. If guys don’t like it, oh, well. Joe hired me to be myself.’’

Penny, an intimidating 6-foot-4, 260-pounder, went 16-4 with a 3.03 ERA last season, finishing third in the NL Cy Young Award voting. But the Dodgers lost 11 of their final 14 games to fall out of playoff contention.

‘‘I would much rather win a World Series than win a Cy Young Award or start an All-Star game,’’ said Penny, who did just that in 2006. ‘‘I only have one goal. I think most people do. We all should.

‘‘We never all got hot at the same time last year. We weren’t good enough, I guess. We should have won the division. That might have been the problem — we expected to win.’’

Penny said perceived clubhouse problems were blown out of proportion. That started when veteran second baseman Jeff Kent expressed frustration with some of the team’s younger players during the late-season fade.

‘‘Jeff’s never going to say anything because he doesn’t like you,’’ Penny said. ‘‘He’s done it to me. He’s doing it for my good. Everyone got along.’’

Penny, a 29-year-old right-hander, joined the Dodgers midway through the 2004 season in an unpopular trade that saw catcher Paul Lo Duca and reliever Guillermo Mota sent to the Marlins. The deal looks like a steal now in the Dodgers’ favor.

Penny’s first season with the Dodgers was incredibly frustrating — he was limited to three starts due to a rare nerve injury to his right biceps. It was a problem that hadn’t come up previously, and there hasn’t been a recurrence.

‘‘That changed everything about how I approached baseball,’’ he said. ‘‘I was young. I thought my career was over — a lot of sleepless nights. And they had just traded for me.’’

Penny is under contract for $8.5 million this season, and the Dodgers have an option for $8.75 million next season with a $2 million buyout.

He said he has no desire to leave.

‘‘I don’t need $100 million. You couldn’t spend $100 million in Oklahoma,’’ he said with a smile, referring to where he was raised. ‘‘They know me. I’m not a guy who needs to break the bank.

‘‘My dad grew up a Dodgers fan. He’s one of the reasons I want to stay here. It would mean the world to him if we could win a championship.’’

Penny was 14-10 with a 4.13 ERA in 2003 before winning two games in the World Series against Torre’s Yankees.

Torre doesn’t need reminding.

‘‘I always looked at him as one of those grinders,’’ the manager said Tuesday. ‘‘He comes at you, the ball comes out of his hand pretty easily.’’

The difference in Penny between now and the 2003 World Series?

‘‘We’re in the same uniform,’’ Torre replied. ‘‘That’s looks good to me.’’

 

 

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