Chris Young, RH Bruce Chen, LH
(8-6, 4.30) (7-6, 4.09)
CF G Matthews Jr. 2B B Roberts
DH M Young 3B M Mora
1B M Teixeira SS M Tejada
3B H Blalock 1B R Palmeiro
2B A Soriano DH S Sosa
LF K Mench C J Lopez
RF R Hidalgo RF B Surhoff
SS M DeRosa CF L Matos
C R Barajas LF L Bigbie
Game time is 7:05 on CSN and FSN Southwest.
Edit: We have a rain delay right now.
Update: Game time should be around 8:30.
I was hoping a Young/Cabrera matchup would shake out for a battle of the giants, but it wasn't meant to be. Young is of course a former Princeton basketball star that nearly left baseball to sign a guaranteed two-year deal with the Sacramento Kings at one point, but was inked to a long-term contract by Texas to prevent that from happening. In his first full season, I think he might be well on his way to proving them wise there, which would be about the first good starting pitching decision the Rangers have made this millennium.
Young has a good WHIP (1.27) and good strikeout numbers (7.7 K/9). He was nearly untouchable in May (3-0, 1.42/1.17) and good again in June, but he's been roughed up in July thus far. This will be his first appearance ever against the Orioles.
Young is 26 years old and a Dallas native. He had seven games of major league experience coming into this season. Chen, on the other hand, is just one year and eleven months older than Chris Young, but came into this year with 163 big league appearances under his belt. This will be Chen's 20th start of the season, only the second time he's ever reached that mark. The last time was 2001 with the Phillies (16 starts) and Mets (11 starts).
This will basically be Chen's first time ever facing the Rangers, too, as he has one appearance against them in his career, and it was one inning of relief. But he did strike out two of the three batters he faced! Mathematically, this means he's going to pitch a perfect game with 18 strikeouts.