Well, the final piece to the 2011 starting rotation hit the mound. That being Alexi Ogando.
While Ogando has been in the majors before, this was his first ever start up here. He’s had mixed success in the past, having spent a lot of time doing the AAA roster roller coaster ride more. He’s looked fairly decent in spring, but it’s never the same as a real mound, with real players, and real stats. You always wonder what a first timer will do with that.
He does quite well, actually. Six innings pitched. Just two hits and two walks for zero earned runs. That was it, man! His ball had lots of movement, and he looked pretty darned awesome. Man, if he can hold this together, it might be hard removing him from the rotation when Tommy Hunter is healthy again. Also, as I was writing this on Wednesday morning, a tweet came over about Ogando from Buster Olney of ESPN. Cool quote:
Alexi Ogando was impressive — and it should be known they got him in Rule 5 draft as OFer for $12 K, based on rec. of scout A.J. Preller.
Hell of a bargain, eh? That kind of performance would have been great too, even if we hadn’t gotten Ogando that way. After the first run through, I have to say I’m looking forward to the next pitching performances of Harrison, Holland, & Ognado more than I am than Wilson & Lewis. Surprised at that reaction, actually. But quite QUITE pleased.
Offensively, there were no more home runs from the new 27 Yankees foundation of Ian Kinsler / Nelson Cruz. So all of those historic streaks stopped. Still, nice NICE early run of power from them.
This game, our offense was even MORE efficient than it was the last game. This game we had just five hits and one walk. Total offense list:
- Single by Kinsler
- Triple by Moreland
- Doubles by Moreland, Hamilton, & Young
- Walk by Cruz
That’s it. The first run scored on a triple by Moreland to left center, which was misplayed by Seattle’s centerfielder Michael Saunders. He jumped for a ball, he realy didn’t have to. Probably could have caught it for an out if he didn’t do that. Hit off the wall, and he never actually touched it, so triple (mental error, though).
This was all because Seattle sent out one of their own kids making his major league debut. That’s Michael Pineda. He looked quite good. We always seem to not do good against guys like that. If he can hold it together, and adjusts and all that, he should be a good pitcher for Seattle.
But we kept it together enough (despite Mark Lowe’s ineffectiveness) to get the win, and push our record to 5-0. This is not exactly a shock, but I’d say somewhere between surprised and quite pleased. :) What IS shocking is that Boston is 0-4 now. :)