I couldn’t help but make a connection between Lady Gaga and Mark Rogers this week. I hope I’m the only one.

The week began with Gaga turning Deering Oaks Park into a zoo during a rally to repeal the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. The week ended with Rogers making his first major league start for the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park, which only turns into a zoo when ownership forgets to shut off the beer sales after the seventh inning.

The last time we saw Rogers, it was at Hadlock Field, only a few hundred yards from where Gaga made a spectacle of herself. It was 2004 when the phenom from Orr’s Island made his final start for Mt. Ararat High School, and it turned into a spectacle unlike anything Maine high school baseball has ever seen.

After watching sound bites of Gaga’s speech, I and a lot of other heterosexual old men, the complete opposite of her most loyal demographic, declared she will be washed-up in five years.

Not so long ago, a lot of us old guys declared Rogers washed-up, too.

Shows what we know.

While a lot of the braut-lovers were curious to see their former No. 1 pick in action, Rogers’ first start in Wisconsin didn’t create the buzz his last start in Maine did.

Faced with a potential security, parking and traffic nightmare, the Maine Principals’ Association moved the 2004 Class A baseball championship from Gorham High School to Hadlock. The first 3,000 tickets were put on sale a few days before the game and were snapped up quickly. The remaining 4,000 weren’t released until 90 minutes before the start of the game. The line to the ticket booth stretched well past the Portland Expo when the box office opened, as fans came from as far away as Bangor to see the best player in Maine try to beat the best team in Maine.

I’ve been to a lot of monumental events at Hadlock — countless Opening Days, Nomar Garciaparra’s first game there (as a member of the Trenton Thunder), rehab stints by Jon Lester, David Ortiz and Jacoby Ellsbury — and nothing has come close to matching the electricity in that ballpark that day.

Rogers struggled with his control against a great Deering team which, just two months later, would go on to win the American Legion national championship. When it became clear by the fifth inning that he didn’t have his best stuff, his father, Craig, Mt. Ararat’s coach, took the ball from him and sent him to shortstop.

The Hadlock crowd of 7,000 stood as one and applauded, to salute him for his brilliant high school career and send him off to his professional career with the Brewers, who had drafted him fifth overall several days earlier.

Deering won its fifth state title in six years, 6-1 (the Rams’ starter that day was Ryan Reid, a pretty darned good right-hander himself who was who pitched for the Tampa Bay Rays’ Double-A affiliate this year). But all of the talk for days afterward still centered on Rogers.

Was he ready for pro ball? Should he have gone to college instead (he reportedly had full scholarships awaiting him in Miami and Orono)? Did he have enough pitches to start at the pro level? Could his arm withstand his throwing motion, which went across his body? Could he master his mechanics, the only major flaw scouts saw in the fireballing right-hander?

At least one of those questions was answered within two years. Rogers needed shoulder surgery for a torn labrum at the end of 2006 and missed all of 2007 recovering. The discomfort continued and he had to go under the knife again to clean out some scar tissue. That cost him the 2008 season.

By that point, rumors were swirling that Rogers was upset with the Brewers’ handling of his injury. Naturally, some questioned whether he could bounce back from two shoulder procedures in as many years. A lot of people, myself included, were already wondering what might have been.

But Rogers, even as a 23-year-old Single-A pitcher, didn’t believe his time was up. He dominated in 22 starts at Brevard County in 2009, forcing the Brewers to add him to their 40-man roster so he couldn’t be scooped up by another team in the Rule 5 draft. He started this season in Double-A, going 6-8 in 24 starts while sometimes reaching triple digits on the radar gun.

After a one-start stopover in Triple-A, the Brewers made him one of their September call-ups. He didn’t give up a hit in two single-inning relief appearances, so manager Ken Macha, previously known as the single most boring analyst in the history of NESN, named him the starter for Friday night’s game against Florida.

Rogers did himself and his home state proud Friday night, even though he looked very much like the nervous youngster we saw at Hadlock Field in a 30-pitch first inning. He hit the first batter he faced, walked a couple more, but got out of the jam with a couple of strikeouts. After that, he settled down and dominated the Marlins for the next two innings.

The long first inning cost Rogers, who was on a 60-pitch count, his first big league win, but he was impressive in his brief outing. He can always say he threw a no-hitter in his first major league start, even though he only lasted three innings. He also got his first hit, a dribbler to second, although it will no doubt morph into a screeching liner over numerous re-tellings. And he even came around to score his first run.

After the game, Macha talked about how Rogers may benefit from starting next year in the bullpen. Some of the experts at baseball publications such as Baseball America argue that will ultimately be where he makes his mark in the majors.

Wherever Rogers is headed, the fact that he was toeing the Miller Park rubber Friday night speaks volumes about from where he has come.

It also reminds idiots such as yours truly not to label someone washed-up at the age of 23.

Sometimes, great pleasure can be derived from being proven wrong. I would love nothing more than for Mark Rogers to stick around a lot longer than Lady Gaga. I’m sure I’m not alone.