John Maine took the hill for his first start of spring training. It didn’t last long and it didn’t look too pretty, either. Maine lasted 1 2/3, allowing three runs on four hits, while striking out two.

Maine, as quoted by Lisa Kennelly of the Newark Star-Ledger:

“I felt strong, maybe a little too strong.”

Maine added that his goal in the outing was to get consistent with his breaking pitches. He also threw a wild pitch on a change up, which he described as “I choked it, big time.” It allowed the Cards third baseman Troy Glaus to score from third.

I don’t get worked up over the first few spring starts for pitchers. They are still getting back into it. Sure, there will be some that may look at this and be concerned. However, I read most of the write-ups of Maine’s rough second inning. The hits were a couple bloops and a chopper. He did throw the aforementioned wild pitch, as well.

His first inning was a 1-2-3 effort, though. Baby steps, folks…