Dontrelle Willis

BATTING LINE OF THE DAY Matt Lawton, Pirates RF PITCHING LINE OF THE DAY Dontrelle Willis, Marlins AB ....... R ......... H ............ RBI ......... HR 5 ........... 3 .......... 4 ............... 1 .............. 0 IP ........ H ......... R ............. BB .......... SO 9 ........... 3 .......... 0 .............. 1 .............. 7 WHO'S HOT A's starting pitchers are 13-1 with a 1.73 ERA over the past 15 games. WHO'S NOT The Devil Rays have been swept 10 times this season and in two of their past three series.

WASHINGTON - He has always had one of baseball's smoothest, most efficient deliveries, and his arm, at times, might as well have been made out of rubber. And when Livan Hernandez stood on the mound, his right hand dangling by his hip, he looked every bit like an Old West gunslinger. But for whatever reason, greatness, at least the sustained variety, has eluded him during his career. At least until this season, anyway. Hernandez pitched 7 1/3 solid innings for the Nationals last night, giving up only two runs, helping his team defeat the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-2, in front of 39,881 at RFK Stadium.

MIAMI - Dontrelle Willis needed only one run of support last night. He did that all by himself. Willis had a two-run single in a six-run eighth inning to help the Florida Marlins stop the Washington Nationals' modest two-game winning streak with a 9-0 victory before a crowd of 19,327. Willis was nearly perfect on the mound, allowing just five singles and one walk in the complete game shutout. It was the third of his young career. No runner reached even second base against Willis until the ninth inning, when the Nationals put two runners on. That ended in one of the Marlins' four double plays on the night.

PHILADELPHIA - Dontrelle Willis is having the time of his life, and who can blame him? Certainly not the defending World Series champion Florida Marlins, who have ridden his talented left arm - and surprising bat - into first place in the National League East. Certainly not their fans, who embraced him when he showed up at Pro Player Stadium last summer and played a major role in the team's amazing midseason turnaround. Everyone seems to agree that the animated 22-year-old left-hander has every right to flash that brilliant smile after getting off to another dynamic start in his second major league season.

JUPITER, Fla. - Dontrelle Willis faced the following situation during Saturday's Grapefruit League finale against the Mets: Mike Cameron at the plate with a full count and a man on. Faced with a similar scenario against any number of equally adept hitters last season, Willis had one option. "I'm just throwing a fastball," he said. That was the rookie's solution to being behind in the count and reluctant to put another runner on with no outs. On the cusp of his second season, Willis would handle things differently.

MIAMI - Dontrelle Willis of the Florida Marlins doesn't need to pitch against Randy Johnson to get excited about a game. "I'm animated enough as it is," said Willis yesterday, two days before his meeting with Johnson in tomorrow night's series finale against the Arizona Diamondbacks. "I'm a high-energy guy in A-ball. For something like this, I might throw it over the net if I don't check my feelings." Willis learned that in his last start. Facing fellow Alameda, Calif., native Jimmy Rollins and the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday, Willis walked two of the game's first three batters.

CHICAGO -- He talks about high school. Three short years ago, he was cracking the books. He talks about minor league baseball. Way back on May 9, he was 4-0 for the Carolina Mudcats, plying his trade in a place called Zebulon. Then Dontrelle Willis got called up. All the way up, as it turns out. "Zebulon was nice, but this is better," Willis said yesterday. Better believe it, kid. If you arrived at the 74th All-Star Game festivities and found a 21-year-old starting pitcher with a 9-1 record and a sub-Randy Johnson ERA that doesn't begin to tell the terrific story of this kid's meteoric rise in baseball, would you consider yourself very happy and very lucky?

MIAMI - When you've flipped in a car five times, as Florida Marlins left-hander Dontrelle Willis has, major league hitters don't seem so intimidating. Willis was driving 65 mph on a highway in Palo Alto, Calif., in February when a rear tire blew on his Mustang. The car began to flip, just like something out of a NASCAR "Greatest Crashes" video. Rubberneckers crossed themselves, certain someone had died. When the emergency crews arrived, Willis was standing by the wreckage, a little dazed but, incredibly, unhurt.