Duchscherer ready to quiet doubters

PHOENIX

Justin Duchscherer is going out this season to make a point to all his doubters. Starting with his own general manager.

The A's right-hander was fuming earlier this spring because Billy Beane offered to bet him that he wouldn't be able to make every start this season. It was just a bit of good-natured motivational ribbing by Beane, who is prone to such things, but it hit a nerve with Duchscherer.

Duchscherer headed straight to the media guide to look up his stats. He scrawled them down on a slip of paper and showed anyone who would listen that he has been unfairly tagged as injury-prone.

"I had one year where I was in a car accident and hurt my back, but every other year in the minors I made 24 or more starts (in five-month seasons)," he said. "If you project that out, that's 29 or 30 starts (for a six-month season). I don't know why I've given them any idea that I wouldn't make my starts every five days. That gives me motivation too."

Duchscherer will take another step on the road to proving his point today, when he starts a Cactus League game against the Mariners at Peoria, Ariz. It will be Duchscherer's first start in an A's uniform since September 2003. (He had started two minor-league games on rehab assignments.)

Ever since the A's moved Duchscherer to the bullpen in 2004, he has been one of the team's best and least satisfied. All along, he insisted he wanted to start.

Over the winter, the A's finally granted his wish. They moved him back to the rotation because that is where they needed him more.

"I'm excited about this season because I feel like I have something to prove," Duchscherer said. "I've been telling them for five years I want to start, and I definitely don't want to go out there and fall on my face and have them say 'See, that's why you didn't start.' "

One of the A's concerns about Duchscherer as a starter was his durability. They figured that if he was unavailable, it would be easier to work around that as a reliever than if he had to be scratched from a start at the last minute.

Duchscherer said that just the opposite is true, though. He said the problems he has had could have been avoided if he were working in the rotation.

"If I had four days off in between, I could have managed the pain and loosened up enough to pitch on the fifth day," he said. "As a reliever, if I threw today, tomorrow I might not be able to. If I threw two days in a row, I definitely wouldn't be able to throw the third day. As a starter, I have four days off to heal my wounds and get everything going again."

Duchscherer said that his relief experience, which included an All-Star selection in 2005, will make him a more effective starter.

"I'm looking forward to getting in a situation where I'm in the sixth or seventh inning and the game is on the line and I'll look at that and say 'I've done this 150 times,'" Duchscherer said. "I've come in the seventh inning with other guys' runners on and had to preserve a lead. It trained me to know how to deal with that situation without panicking."

Going through the lineup several times, instead of just facing a few hitters, will also allow Duchscherer the luxury of using all five of his pitches. He said he was reluctant to throw his fastball as a reliever because one location mistake could cost him, so he instead relied on his darting cutter.

"Now I'm going to attack the zone with my fastball more in the first few innings, and that makes all my other stuff better," he said.

Pitching coach Curt Young said he is optimistic that Duchscherer can make the transition back to the rotation.

"If Justin Duchscherer is healthy, he's going to have a great year," pitching coach Curt Young said. "He's that type of pitcher. When the health is there he gets people out. That's the only thing that's going to hold him back from having a great year."

You can reach Staff Writer

Jeff Fletcher at 521-5489 or jeff.fletcher@pressdemocrat.com.