SoCal MLB Report

LA Angels (1-1) at Minnesota (1-1), 5:10 pm
MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) - With both clubs going through some rotation turmoil, the Minnesota Twins and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim each turn to a young arm when they meet in the rubber game of a three-game series Wednesday at the Metrodome. The Twins are still trying to find an ace after trading two-time Cy Young award winner Johan Santana to the New York Mets in the offseason and sending Francisco Liriano to the minors for some extra seasoning. The Angels are without the services of their top two starters from last season, John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar. Lackey is expected back at the end of the month, while Escobar is likely done for the year with a shoulder injury. Anaheim got a boost on Tuesday when the newest member of its rotation - Jon Garland - induced 17 groundball outs in eight solid innings during a 9-1 victory. Minnesota will hand the ball to rookie Nick Blackburn, the club's top pitching prospect. The righthander earned a spot in the rotation by posting a 2.25 ERA in 16 innings this spring. Blackburn, 26, made six appearances out of the bullpen for the Twins last season, going 0-2 with a 7.71 ERA. The Angels will counter with Joe Saunders, who bounced back and forth between the rotation and the minor leagues last season. The 26-year-old lefthander went 8-5 with a 4.44 ERA in 18 starts in 2007. New Anaheim center fielder Torii Hunter, who signed a five year, $90 million contract in the offseason after spending the past 11 seasons with the Twins, is 0-for-8 after two games.

San Francisco (0-2) at LA Dodgers (2-0), 7:10 pm
LOS ANGELES (Ticker) - At one point in 2007, 23-year-old Chad Billingsley had won seven straight decisions. However, as far as young pitchers go, he may have been overshadowed by 22-year-old Tim Lincecum last season. Two of the brightest young pitching stars face off on Wednesday when the Los Angeles Dodgers go for a season-opening sweep of the San Francisco Giants. From April 7-July 23, 2007, Billingsley did not drop a single game, winning four games in relief before joining the rotation for good on July 1. The righthander claimed three more wins before World Series runner-up Colorado handed him his first loss of the season on July 29. He finished 12-5 with a 3.31 ERA last season. Billingsley will be opposing another hard-throwing righthander in Lincecum, who wasted little time handcuffing the opposition shortly after his first start on May 6. Lincecum struck out 150 batters over 146 1/3 innings in his rookie season, finishing with a 7-5 record and a 4.00 ERA - joining Noah Lowry as the only San Francisco starters to finish with a winning record for the National League-worst Giants.