While youthful starters Kevin Correia and Ben Howard lock horns as the Giants visit San Diego tonight, I'll be keeping one eye on the matchup in Oakland, because the A's have yet another young starter joining their ranks. Justin Duchscherer, age 25, will take the ball against the Angels in a few hours. Although Duchscherer didn't exactly distinguish himself in five games with the Rangers in 2001 (12.27 ERA), he sure did distinguish himself in the minors this year. Seems he struck out 117 batters while walking just 18 -- !!! -- for the Sacramento Rivercats of the Pacific Coast League this year. Wow.
If Duchscherer pans out in the big leagues and gets the A's a few key wins down the stretch, the credit will once again go to general manager Billy Beane for spotting the young pitcher's talent. Beane swapped unremarkable middle reliever Luis Vizcaino to Texas for Duchscherer in early 2002; the Rangers immediately traded him to the Brewers for the equally unremarkable Jesus Pena. While Vizcaino posted a healthy 2.99 ERA in his first year with Milwaukee, he reverted to form in 2003, keeping his ERA above 9.00 for just about the entire first half.
Duchscherer starts against the even more inexperienced and wonderfully-named 24-year-old Chris Bootcheck, who will make his major league debut tonight. Bootcheck, out of Auburn University, was the 20th overall pick in the 2000 draft. What an exciting night -- of the four starting pitchers in the local teams' games tonight, Ben Howard has the most big-league experience with four starts.
Oh yeah, and the Dodgers are sending Edwin Jackson to the mound to celebrate his 20th birthday with his major-league debut... against fearsome competition, too. Total big-league experience among the five starters for California teams tonight: 16 games, nine starts.
Somewhere, Jayson Stark is wetting himself.
Elbo
