Blanton and Chac?n - Why I love today's matchup!

Gustavo Chacín Born: Dec  4, 1980 - Maracaibo, Venezuela
Joe Blanton       Born: Dec 11, 1980 - Nashville, TN

Year Team  G GS W  L SV CG    IP    H  R ER HR BB   K  ERA WHIP  BAA  
 2005 TOR 34 34 13 09  0  0 203.0 213 93 84 20 70 121 3.72 1.39 .274  
 2005 OAK 33 33 12 12  0  2 201.1 178 86 79 23 67 116 3.53 1.22 .236  

Joe Blanton and Gustavo Chacín were separated at birth - by one week. Look how similar their overall stats were last year. Innings pitched, Runs, homeruns, balls, strike - these guys were nearly identical in every way. You can't find two pitcher who were more similar last year, let alone two rookies. They each did well in the ROY voting. It would have been great if we had both these guys - it's nice to have another lefty - but each of them are great in their own way and I'm more than happy with Blanton.

It seems that last year Blanton gave up fewer hits, while this year Chacín is doing better in that regard. If you look at DIPS though, these guys have been quite similar so far, and I wonder which of them will be the better pitcher 10 years from now. In the meantime, "Go A's" and "Smoke em' Cupcakes!"