clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

MLB All-Star Game 2011: Seattle Mariners Pitcher Michael Pineda Throws Perfect Third For AL

Considering that Joe Buck and Tim McCarver spent most of the inning talking about Derek Jeter you'd be forgiven for not really being aware of it, but Michael Pineda had a pretty decent third for the AL All-Stars. Pineda got Troy Tulowitzki to fly out to center and struck out both Scott Rolen and Rickie Weeks swinging. Not a bad inning of work for the 22-year-old rookie phenom.

Pineda looked completely dominant in his brief appearance, something Mariners fans are likely used to at this point. The only contact made all inning was on Tulowitzki's lazy fly to center and a hide and inside 95 MPH fastball that Weeks was able to fight off for a foul. Rolen took a fastball for a strike, watched a slider away for a ball and swung over the top of two nasty sliders down and out of the zone. Weeks took strike a fastball for a strike, watched a slider go by for a ball, fouled off the aforementioned fastball and flailed helplessly at a slider in the dirt for strike three.

All in all, a typical frame for Michael Pineda. And for those who aren't all that fond of the All-Star game, it took him just ten pitches to do it so there won't be any concern about his being overused. And the best part of all is that since Buck and McCarver didn't actually talk about anything he did at all due to their waxing poetic about Captain Courageous, it will take at least one more year for loud but ill-informed Yankees fans to start suggesting the Bronx Bombers send Nick Swisher and Ramiro Pena to the Mariners for Pineda.