ESPN is back tonight for Game 4 of the Twins/Yankees series, featuring a showdown between veterans Livan Hernandez and Andy Pettitte.

On paper, this looks like another mismatch. As Randball noted last week, Hernandez is on pace to become the first pitcher since Phil Niekro in 1979 to allow 300 hits in a season.

Against some teams, Hernandez can pitch around trouble, but the Yankees have historically hurt him with their patient approach. In four career starts against the Yankees, Hernandez is 0-3 with a 6.08 ERA, with 26 hits and 16 walks allowed in 23 2/3 innings. That’s a WHIP of 1.77.

Pettitte is 8-5 with a 3.52 ERA in 17 career starts against the Twins, which doesn’t include his seven-inning gem in Game 2 of the 2003 Division Series.

Hernandez has only faced the Yankees only once since 2002, and that came June 13, 2007 for the Diamondbacks. Hernandez gave up nine hits and five walks in four innings, including home runs by Alex Rodriguez, Jorge Posada and Hideki Matsui.

But with Hernandez, nothing surprises me. Three weeks ago, ESPN did the Monday game when Hernandez faced the Red Sox. I thought that would be a mismatch, too, but he held Boston to three runs in six innings, repeatedly wiggling out of trouble, despite allowing 10 hits, in a 7-3 victory.

Hernandez is 6-2 with a 4.60 ERA and the Twins are 9-3 in his starts. Tonight, we’ll see if the magic continues.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 2nd, 2008 at 10:24 am and is filed under Twins thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.