Lowe began his career with a streak of 17 2/3 scoreless innings in 2006 before needing two elbow surgeries. The first was in October 2006 and the second during Spring Training last year, as he spent most of last season rehabbing.
Lowe said he thought after the initial surgery he would be fine, but "it didn't work out that way."
"It stinks when you can't pitch," Lowe said. "It's in the past. I'm ready to go. I felt incredible."
His first five pitches were called balls (even though Lowe said he thought three were good pitches) and he allowed a single to Mike Sweeney, but retired three A's on flyouts.
The battle for the left handed reliever who will take the place of the traded George Sherrill in the Seattle pen has been joined. The four in the competition are are ex-Rattlers.
MLB.com had this overview the other day; Lefties vying for relief role. Before getting into the excerpts, it is interesting that MLB.com has a picture of righty JJ Putz to go along with the story. Anyway....
The candidates are Eric O'Flaherty, Cesar Jimenez, Ryan Feierabend and Ryan Rowland-Smith.
They have retired 10 of the 12 left-handed hitters that they've faced, striking out three.
"Right now, they are competing," McLaren said, "but they're really just starting to get their breaking pitches and everything together. We're noticing but they're still working to get in shape.
"When something doesn't go their way, we take into consideration that they've only had one or two appearances. It's more to the end what we're looking for than the beginning."
According to this article, O'Flaherty has been held back due to a stiff back and another of the four has stood out.
Jimenez already has pitched himself into the picture.
"The thing I like about him, is that he uses both sides of the plate and he's got a good changeup," McLaren said. "He's somebody who was definitely on the radar screen coming to Spring Training, and he's done nothing but strengthen himself here. I like what I've seen."
Jimenez allowed three runs on three hits and a walk against Oakland yesterday, but it's only one appearance.
O'Flaherty, 23, pitched in various relief situations but was stellar against left-handed hitters, holding them to a .183 average. Cesar Jimenez also is getting a hard look for that role, with Ryan Rowland-Smith and Ryan Feierabend also in the mix.
Feierabend has a 2.25 earned run average in four innings of work, and the others haven't allowed an earned run.
They've all been solid against lefties -- O'Flaherty holding them to 1-for-3 with a strikeout, Jimenez 1-for-5 with a strikeout, Rowland-Smith 0-for-2 with a strikeout and a walk, and Feierabend 0-for-2.
"We've got some guys who know that position's open," manager John McLaren said. "You can see the intensity starting to pick up between those guys."
Unlike other roles on the team that McLaren determined early in camp, he said the lefty reliever competition could last all month.
This was from Saturday, before the game against the Athletics.
You know who might have an opinion on this? Lookout Landing. Let's check: High Starch Diet.
Let's make one thing clear right now: nobody's going to do what Sherrill did last season. The Governor was terrific all summer long, and what this really comes down to is a battle for who the coaching staff thinks can provide the smallest downgrade. To believe anything else is delusion.
There are four nominal contenders for this role, listed above. However, both RRS and Feierabend are (justifiably) viewed as potential long-term starters or swingmen, so they're highly likely to begin the year getting stretched out in Tacoma. I support this decision, because I think RRS has it in him to be the third-best starter in the organization by July. (That's both good and rather damning.)
But meanwhile, barring some surprise, that means we're left with Eric O'Flaherty and Cesar Jimenez vying for the job of #1 lefty. Of all the competitions taking place in Mariner camp this spring, this one stands to be the most important.
O'Flaherty sure as hell better win.
Then, there is a bunch of that stat and logic stuff.
Kidding. I'm kidding.
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