By Gene Collier, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/
Peter Diana/Post-Gazette
Starter Ross Ohlendorf allowed three runs to the Dodgers, all in the fifth inning.
Ross Ohlendorf pitched two perfect innings Wednesday, then two slightly shaggy innings, then a top of the fifth that felt as though it might end sometime around Mother's Day.
There was a homer, a double, a single, an error, a visit from pitching coach Joe Kerrigan, six moves to first, 27 pitches, the ploddingly gradual relinquishing of a three-run lead, and -- wait -- did Ohlendorf also produce, in that inning, a 44-page white paper on diseased livestock?
No, that was last fall during his internship with the Department of Agriculture, but it's true that entire autumns have seemed to pass quicker than last night's top of the fifth.
Ohlendorf, a Princeton man turned cattle rancher who is still perhaps the Pirates' best hope for a classical top of the rotation ox, did an internship in Washington under former Iowa governor and Pittsburgh native Tom Vilsack last year, and all he got for it around here was the little spectacle of someone calling a talk show the other night and wondering if Ohlendorf's venture into "politics" might somehow have resulted in a spring training record that was less than enchanting.
Politics?
What's political about eight weeks inside the beltway tracking anaplasmosis, brucellosis, foot rot and bovine warts for the National Animal Identification System?
Come on.
Not only where there no political implications to Ohlendorf's mildly squishy spring, there were no real baseball implications either, at least none that Pirates manager John Russell could readily identify as of three hours prior to Ross' first pitch.
"We expect Ross to be fine," Russell said of the big right-hander who allowed three runs or fewer in 12 of his 15 starts last summer. "He got himself prepared. I know he's gonna be prepared and I know he's gonna be ready. He's a young pitcher that's still developing and he's got a good head on his shoulders.
"We don't think for a minute that he's not gonna be ready."
Russell knows as well as anyone that there's not much point in focusing on highly disposable Grapefruit League data.
"I remember when I was playing [for the Phillies], Shane Rawley and Steve Carlton would have spring training ERAs in the 20s," he said, "then the season would start and they'd dominate."
Uh-huh. So pay no attention to Ohlendorf's 9.61, because Ohlendorf didn't.
The Pirates' starter didn't allow a hit until Manny Ramirez rolled a pitch through the right side of the infield with one out in the fourth, and protected a 3-0 lead provided once again by Garrett Jones' speedy delivery service (this time a three-run, center-field smash in the top of the first) until the start of that interminable fifth.
Russell Martin, whom Dodgers manager Joe Torre dropped from second to eighth in the Los Angeles batting order, rode Ohlendorf's 1-1 pitch to the seats in right to make it 3-1, and, when Rafael Furcal slapped a grounder to Andy LaRoche at third, it looked as though Ohlendorf would find an open channel and cruise into the sixth. But LaRoche, who had make a stellar play to his left in the first, an even better play to his right in the third, made a bad throw on a ball hit right to him. He set himself to throw with plenty of time, but pulled Jeff Clement off the bag to give Furcal a reprieve. Furcal promptly swiped second, scored as Matt Kemp's soft-serve double down the left-field line made it 3-2, and Andre Ethier's rope single to right three pitches later tied the game.
Even at that, Ohlendorf recovered to retire Ramirez and James Loney, meaning the Pirates had gotten at least five innings from their starters in both games of this series, as Zach Duke turned in five decent ones in the opener.
If you're snoring at home, that's a 3.60 starters' ERA for the first 1/81st of the 2010 season, and I would caution you not to take such little pleasures lightly.
Who among us, for example, wasn't scoreboard watching last night, as the Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals started play tied for first place?
Frankly, I'm typing that sentence mostly because the opportunity isn't going to come around all that often.
Who among the more than 31,000 on hand for Buck night didn't feel a surge of faux pennant race adrenaline when the Cincinnati Reds scored twice in the sixth to make it 2-2 at 8:57 p.m.?
OK, just me.
Gene Collier: gcollier@post-gazette.com.
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