That was they key to success in 2004. None of the starters missed a turn. Other than Schilling, no one was spectacular that season, but they took the ball every 5th day and usually gave the team a chance to win. Tey had a tremendous streak of 6 inning plus starts after the trading deadline that propelled the team. You are exactly right. That is the way to win. In the offseason, I wanted Ben to build a strong middle of the rotation as opposed to getting the stud #1 for the exact reason that if you have a bunch of guys that can give you 200 innings good things will happen. It keeps the pen fresh and covers up the weak spots in the pen by limiting their innings.
Cherries did a great job in building a durable group of innings eaters. Buch was the only one to miss the mark eating innings, but he was spectular when he pitched. I expected Lester to eat innings and take all of his turns, but I didn't think that both Lackey and Doubs would be able tohold up for the entire season. When Lackey grabbed his arm in his first start I was pretty sure that he would have a rocky road and miss time. Doubs came into camp out of shape and his arm strength and velocity were down, but he held up and did a very good job. I remeber that SFF was livid about him and his conditioning and velocity early in the season. Dempster, although he was a Dumpster in many games, took the ball on his turn and didn't miss starts and every once in awhile he turned in a nice start.
I think Cherries realizes that it is important to stock your staff with durable innings eaters, but that is easier said than done because injuries with pitchers are so random. We may not see this consistency out of our starters for years after this, so I am really appreciating what they are doing. Like I said earlier, our starter have not been this healthy since 2004.