The freshen command, when used in conjunction with an ftp url, isn't very smart about versioning. It will retrieve the file BEFORE checking whether it is more recent than the current version--or even whether any version is installed at all--resulting in a tremendous amount of overhead. For example: rpm -Fvh ftp://ftp.freesoftware.com/.1/linux/redhat/current/updates/i386/*rpm retrieves all files in the directory before even checking to see if a current version is installed.
*** Bug 12009 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Yes, rpm retrieves all files before installing. This is the mannaer in which rpm was designed. No, it's not possible to use the file name to extract versions, the header contains version inormation. The entire package is downloaded to eliminate possible network corruption.