RRS solid, Oeltjen hits again

Ryan Rowland-Smith made his 6th start of the season today, against the Yankees at Seattle. Facing up against veteran lefty Andy Pettitte was a tough matchup for the Mariners, and a challenge for RRS against the AL-East leading lineup. However, he was solid - going 7 innings and giving up only 3 hits and 2 earned runs. He struck out 5 while walking 2. Unfortunately, the Yankees staff was equally effective, and the Mariners could not get enough runs to win the game. The Yanks scored a couple off the Mariners' bullpen, and eventually New York went on to win 4-2, with RRS getting a no-decision.

With the Mariners trading away Jarrod Washburn, and with Erik Bedard suffering ANOTHER injury, Ryan is now effectively the third member of the Seattle rotation. It is great to see him finding some form again after being on the DL for so long. His next start is on Thursday (Friday in Oz) at Detroit, where he will matchup against Washburn. Should be a good battle!

Meanwhile, in Arizona, Trent Oeltjen got another hit (he was 1-for-4 on the day). This time against the Dodgers. The D-Backs won the game 4-1. Trent will line up for the D-Backs again tomorrow, as Arizona face off against Hiroki Kuroda. You can watch the game live on One HD.

Also, here is a bit of linkage for some articles about Trent - there are plenty of them at the moment:

• Sydney's Daily Telegraph features the Wizard of Oz
• The Phoenix New Times profiles Trent and has some good photos
• Ninemsn details Trent's call up to the Bigs
• Trent made it to the SMH's Fitz Files
• He will feature on This Week in Baseball this week (on air at 7pm Monday AEST)