It's hard to believe that the two best pitchers on the staff, at least on the whole because that's the only way we can exclude Francisco Liriano over his last nine starts, have been Scott Diamond and one Mr. De Vries. Tonight the 27-year old right-hander gets a shot at a second quality start in a row, after throwing seven scoreless innings against the Texas Rangers his last time out. His willingness to throw his secondary pitches off his fastball makes it difficult for batters to get a read on a pattern, which is partially helped out by his lack of a track record, but right now it's easy to see why the Twins are riding the hot hand. Hopefully that continues today.
Tomaso Anthony Milone is a 25-year old southpaw that the A's received as part of their return from the Nationals for Gio Gonzalez. He's turned out to be a pretty good catch, throwing a decent upper 80s fastball but also throwing his secondary pitches regularly. His changeup is thrown regularly with great success, and the cutter works as well. His curve isn't used quite as often, but it's still more than a "show me" offering.