3 MLB debuts in 3 days in Baltimore/Washington

The past 3 days in the Baltimore/Washington DC baseball world have offered up 3 pitching debuts. I was lucky enough to attend the Stephen Strasburg debut on Tuesday evening vs. the Pirates. The next night, Brad Lincoln debuted for the Pittsburgh Pirates against the Washington Nationals. And last night, Jake Arrieta debuted for the Baltimore Orioles against the New York Yankees. Here are the stats from each of their debuts:

• Stephen Strasburg, 6/8/10 vs. the Pirates: 7.0 IP, 2.57 ERA, 0.57 WHIP (with no walks), 14 Ks. Result: Win
  
• Brad Lincoln, 6/9/10 vs. the Nationals: 6.0 IP, 7.50 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 3 Ks. Result: Loss
• Jake Arrieta, 6/10/10 vs. the Yankees: 6.0 IP, 4.50 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 6 Ks. Result: Win

So, who preformed the best? Well, let's be honest, Brad Lincoln was just tossed in to make more of a comparison of things. He held up alright, but didn't match what Strasburg or Arrieta did.

A lot of people have been mentioning that Strasburg only faced the Pirates. Arrieta handled the World Series Champion New York Yankees, a pretty insurmountable task for a major league debut. I know the attitude in Baltimore was that he was going to have to face the Yankees eventually; might as well just get it over with.

Strasburg's stats are obviously superior to Arrieta's stats. And despite each pitchers' competition, Strasburg still has the upper hand here. A major league line-up is a major league line-up. If the Pirates can win a major league baseball game, then they should be capable of putting up a good effort against any pitcher. Don't get me wrong, Arrieta put up a valiant effort against MLB's best and getting a win there should give Baltimore more hope than they've had all year, but, based on debuts alone, Strasburg is looking like gold.