L. J. Hoes, 2013 Panini Prizm #279

Opening Week scheduling quirks left me without an O's game to watch last night, so I settled for some former Orioles beating the tar out of the Yankees.

The Bronx Bombers were in Houston to take on the lowly Astros, but the hosts flipped the script for one night. Scott Feldman, who gave the Birds 15 fair-to-middlin' starts after a midseason trade from the Cubs in 2013, assumed his mantle as the Astros' would-be ace when he signed a three-year deal in the offseason. He stayed on top of the Yanks for 6.2 scoreless innings, with two New York singles accounting for the only hits against him. Meanwhile the unheralded Houston lineup battered a newly-svelte CC Sabathia for four first-inning runs and six runs total, with L. J. Hoes' second career home run accounting for one of the tallies. The Yankees tried to make it interesting with a pair of eighth-inning runs, but stout ex-Baltimore reliever Matt Albers slammed the door with a scoreless ninth, pitching around a Kelly Johnson double to the gap. The 6-2 final, combined with Toronto's 4-2 victory over the Rays, gave the Orioles sole possession of first place in the hardscrabble American League East. That's a pretty good day off, in my book.