Livan Hernandez: Strikeout Pitcher Extraordinare

First off, we apologize for the lack of anything resembling even a short blog post recently. Work duties call for all. I'd like to say it will never happen again, but who am I kidding? It probably will.

Livan Hernandez has never been considered a "strikeout pitcher". His effectiveness, especially in the late stage of his career, has been largely due to some craftiness, tough off-speed stuff, and the thing people like to call "intangibles" because they don't really know what it is. He just gets it done, simple as that.

So last night, as I was watching the first half of the Nats-Giants tilt, I was amazed as I saw Livan register 4 K's through 4 innings of work.

The strikeout pitches lacked...what is that word? Heat. They lacked heat, to say the very least.

I went onto MLB.com for confirmation. What exactly was he throwing? Why couldn't Juan Uribe hit anything?!

K1 (Aubrey Huff, looking): 70 MPH curveball
K2 (Juan Uribe, swinging): 64 MPH curveball
K3 (Andres Torres, swinging): 79 MPH changeup
K4 (Juan Uribe, swinging): 65 MPH curveball

Let's for a moment forget that Livan had his first forgettable outing of the season. I guess he was due.

What non-knuckle-ball pitcher incorporates so much off-speed stuff in his repertoire? Nobody as effective as Livan, and that's why we love his guts.