I'm going to tonight's game. These are my season ticket seats so I've been scheduled to go to this game for a long time. That being said, I probably would have gone to game anyway because I love seeing talented young pitchers make their debut. I was there for Adam Eaton's debut, Jake Peavy's debut and Mat Latos' debut. I went bought tickets special for Eaton, I had tickets to the Yankees-Padres tilt for Peavy and Latos' first start was lucky enough to be on a season ticket day. I'm excited about this.

However, my enthusiasm is tempered. Luebke is very talented and has all the makeup one would want in a major league starting pitcher, but he's still a rookie. Let's look at some rookie debuts in an unscientific study.

Adam Eaton (5/30/2000)

Oliver Perez (6/16/2002)

Jake Peavy  (6/22/2002)

Chris Young (8/24/2004)

Tim Stauffer (5/11/2005)

Clayton Richard (7/23/2008)

Wade LeBlanc (9/3/2008)

Mat Latos (7/19/2009)

So what does this tell us? Well, nothing profound really. It's just that these sort of things can go either way. All of these pitchers we are fairly familiar with. All of them were considered fairly talented at the time. And all of them have had some sort of major league success.

Of course, I could have included some of the pitchers who were talented, even highly thought of, that fizzled out (your Dennis Tankersleys, Mike Bynums and Dewon Brazeltons) but I 'm trying to stay a little more positive than that. I guess I also could have talked about the guys that came through early on and then fizzled out (your Brian Tollbergs, Mike Thompsons, and Justin Germanos), which, with all apologies to the Luebke family and friends, we'd probably take right now. However, Luebke is a little more talented than those guys anyway.

I guess all I'm saying is that I wouldn't expect this kid's to come through with a big start to get us back on track to the playoffs. However, I wouldn't tell anyone not to hope for it. Maybe my point is that we need to believe that he'll come through with all our hearts, but if we turn our rational brains on we can't possibly expect it. Or maybe I don't have a point. Wouldn't be the first time.