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Edinson Volquez is just one of many young guns pitching this weekend.

WEEKEND PREVIEW

By Mark Simon, ESPN Research

Peter Gammons recently wrote about how baseball is becoming a young man's game. This weekend's pitching matchups seem to validate that thought. There are plenty of intriguing games featuring some of the game's best young pitchers, beginning Friday night when the Royals' Luke Hochevar faces C.C. Sabathia. And there is Reds' unbeaten Edinson Volquez going against Atlanta's Tim Hudson. Volquez's 4-0 start to the season has been fascinating to watch.

SUNDAY NIGHT BASEBALL

• Cubs at Cardinals, 8:05 p.m. ET, ESPN

Saturday has a couple of good matchups in which youth will face experience, with the Mets' Mike Pelfrey facing Brandon Webb, Seattle's Felix Hernandez returning to Yankee Stadium, where he had success his first time out, to go head-to-head with Mike Mussina.

The weekend winds down Sunday with two of the best young arms in baseball, San Francisco's Tim Lincecum and Philadelphia's Cole Hamels, pitted against each other.

Friday

• Mariners (Erik Bedard) at Yankees (Chien-Ming Wang), 7:05 p.m. ET
This is a good pitching matchup, with a hard-throwing lefty going up against a sinker ball-throwing right. Erik Bedard has won his last three decisions against the Yankees. Chien-Ming Wang, meanwhile, is 11-1 over his last 14 starts. Wang is 5-0 this season, and 6-0 career against the Mariners. The only pitcher with a better record against the Mariners all-time: Bill Gullickson, 10-0. Wang will have to get Ichiro Suzuki out. Among active players, Suzuki's .348 batting average at Yankee Stadium ranks second to Paul Konerko's .357..357

• Royals (Luke Hochevar) at Indians (C.C. Sabathia), 7:05 p.m. ET
Indians starter C.C. Sabathia, who started the year 0-3 with a 13.50 ERA, seems to have figured out what was wrong. He's allowed just one run in 14 innings. He has also recorded 19 strikeouts.

• Reds (Edinson Volquez) at Braves (Tim Hudson), 7:30 p.m. ET
What a difference a league has made for Edinson Volquez, who entered the season having gone 3-11 with a 7.20 ERA over the last three years. This year, he's 4-0 with a 1.23 ERA, averaging better than 10 strikeouts per nine innings. Who would have thought at this point in the season that in a matchup between Volquez and Tim Hudson you'd give the edge to the Reds' starter?

• Complete list of pitching probables for Friday's games

Saturday

• Mets (Mike Pelfrey) at Diamondbacks (Brandon Webb), 3:45 p.m. ET
Somehow, Brandon Webb is 2-6 against the Mets with an ERA of 2.26. In other words, of the 42 active pitchers with at least nine starts against the Mets, Webb has the third-best ERA while being tied for the worst winning percentage (.250). Webb is 6-0 this season, but the calendar shifting isn't necessarily a good thing for him. He's a combined 18-2 in March/April over his career, but 10-8 career in May.

• Mariners (Felix Hernandez) at Yankees (Mike Mussina), 3:55 p.m. ET
Felix Hernandez has made one start at Yankee Stadium and one at Fenway Park. In those starts, he's 2-0, with one earned run allowed in 16 innings. Opponents are 6-for-51 against him (that includes a one -hitter at Fenway). Meanwhile, Mike Mussina has won his last six decisions against the Mariners.

• Rays (James Shields) at Red Sox (Josh Beckett), 7:05 p.m. ET
This is a rematch between pitchers who went head-to-head in their last start, back on April 27. Beckett struck out a career-high 13, but Shields tossed two-hit shutout and got the win.

• Complete list of pitching probables for Saturday's games

Sunday

• Giants (Tim Lincecum) at Phillies (Cole Hamels), 1:35 p.m. ET
Two of baseball's best young pitchers close a series in which the Phillies welcome back former center fielder Aaron Rowand, now a member of the Giants. The 23-year-old Lincecum has been very solid, stringing together five straight quality starts to begin the season.

• Mets (Johan Santana) at Diamondbacks (Dan Haren), 4:10 p.m. ET
Their fans haven't been particularly friendly to the Mets this year. Maybe it's just coincidence that all three of Johan Santana's wins this season have come on the road. He's 2-0 with an 0.56 ERA against the Diamondbacks, with one run allowed in 16 career innings pitched.

• White Sox (Jose Contreras) at Blue Jays (Roy Halladay), 1:07 p.m. ET
Roy Halladay is the first pitcher since Randy Johnson in 1999 to pitch three straight complete-game losses and the first pitcher to throw four straight complete games since Halladay himself did it in 2003. The last pitcher to throw four straight complete games, losing them all, was Rick Langford, who wore his arm out pitching for Billy Martin's 1980 Athletics.

• Complete list of pitching probables for Sunday's games

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