If the weather holds off, we're set for a somewhat surprising pitching duel tonight at Fenway.
Well, there's nothing surprising about the first guy. I've been waiting to see Stephen Strasburg pitch in person for as long as I can remember. Okay, maybe just three years, but between the anticipation that's built since the moment he was drafted, the year off on account of Tommy John surgery and the fact that he's in the National League, there's a special level of excitement surrounding Strasburg's Fenway debut.
He's one of the game best young pitchers, and has lived up to his lofty expectations - save for the surgery - about as well as you could have imagined. He comes into tonight's game with a career record of 12-5 with a 2.46 ERA, a ridiculous 1.01 WHIP, 195 K's and only 36 walks. Aye aye aye.
But it's the emergence of his counterpart in tonight's game that's caught most of us off guard: Felix "The Cat" Doubront. (There's nothing official about that nickname. I just feel like everyone named Felix should naturally be nicknamed "The Cat").
Doubront (who turns 25 in October) is only one year younger than Strasburg, and while he hasn't (and understandably so) reached Stras' level of dominance, the Cat has been so much better so much faster than any Red Sox fan could have imagined.
Coming into tonight, Doubront is tied with Clay Buchholz for the best record on the Sox staff at 6-2. But unlike Clay (excluding last night), Doubront has actually earned his stripes. He's the lone starter with a sub-4.00 ERA (3.75) and leads the team with 66 strikeouts. He's helped soften the affects of Daniel Bard's inconsistency. He's given the Sox an important second lefty arm in the rotation. And if the top three guys can ever consistently get it together, Doubront will become one of the deadliest fourth starters in baseball.
Tonight, he goes toe-to-toe with one of the best pitchers. Period. It should be a lot fun.
Boston Red Sox
Assuming Mother Nature doesn't creep along and snatch it all away.