Penny’s Relief Not a Regret for Little

On the day after Dodgers Manager Grady Little used starter Brad Penny as a reliever in the seventh inning of a tie game, Little said he had no regrets about his widely criticized decision and would make the same move if given a second chance.

With the score tied, 4-4, Little called on Penny rather than use setup man Jonathan Broxton for two innings or Brett Tomko, Aaron Sele or Chad Billingsley for one inning. Penny took the loss, walking Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran before giving up a run-scoring single to Carlos Delgado and a run-scoring double to David Wright.

“It would have been fine had he not walked the leadoff hitter,” Little said.

Tomko, who agreed to move from the rotation to the bullpen in July with the promise of working key innings, said he was not upset by Little’s decision. Penny is scheduled to start Game 4 Sunday, in what would be his first start in 10 days.

“If he can get an inning of work, that’s a good move,” Tomko said. “At this point, it’s all about winning. We’ll all have our opportunity. I’m sure Grady didn’t want to have him go a week between starts.”

Before Thursday’s game, Little said he would consider using closer Takashi Saito for two innings. Saito did not pitch two innings in any September appearance and has done so only once since July 24.

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The “Dodgers on Demand” channel remains on the air, two months after its premiere and one month after baseball officials notified the Dodgers the channel violates major league rules.

The Dodgers have appealed, MLB President Bob DuPuy said Thursday, and the team has not been penalized “to this point.” He said MLB remains unhappy with the channel.

“It’s not fine,” DuPuy said, “but we’ve got a lot on our plate. We’re trying to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement, and we have various other issues. This is, frankly, not a front-burner issue.”

MLB rules forbid individual teams from awarding rights to video-on-demand channels, but DuPuy said those rules could be revised this winter, which could make the dispute with the Dodgers moot.

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Bryan Morris, the Dodgers’ second-round draft pick in June, is recovering from Tommy John surgery and is not expected to resume pitching until the 2008 season. Morris made 14 minor league starts before his elbow gave out.

The Dodgers signed Morris for $1.325 million, despite an across-the-body delivery that some baseball officials believe makes pitchers more susceptible to injury.

“I’m not going to second-guess myself,” Dodgers scouting director Logan White said. “That would be like the people that signed [Eric] Gagne saying they shouldn’t have signed him, and he came back from Tommy John surgery and had some pretty good years for us.”

The Tommy John procedure -- the reconstruction of a torn elbow ligament, generally with a tendon from the opposite arm -- has become almost routine. The Angels signed Nick Adenhart for $710,000 within weeks of his surgery, and Adenhart has emerged as their top pitching prospect.

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Terry Collins, the Dodgers’ minor league director and the former manager of the Angels and Houston Astros, agreed to a three-year contract to manage Japan’s Orix Buffaloes.... Dodgers bullpen coach Dan Warthen, previously the pitching coach in Detroit, Seattle and San Diego, has emerged as a possible candidate to fill the pitching coach vacancy with the Astros.

Times staff writer Tim Brown contributed to this report.

bill.shaikin@latimes.com