St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Brad Penny is optimistic he'll pitch again this season. He's just not sure wh Penny, sidelined since late May with an upper back injury, said Monday he's played catch every day for about a week, but the team has yet to schedule a bullpen session. "Just playing catch," Penny told The Associated Press. "No changed status for me, at all. I'll be able to tell you something when I find out." Manager Tony La Russa seemed more enthusiastic than Penny, who's 3-4 with a 3.23 ERA in nine starts. Penny signed a one-year, $7.5 million free agent contract in the offseason and is hungry to return to a rotation bolstered by the trade deadline acqusition of Jake Westbrook. "I hope so," Penny said. "I'll do everything I can. But like I said, I've got to test it. It's not like when you throw on flat ground, just regular catch." Read more: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5432373
