For Florida Marlins starter Dontrelle Willis, the strategy has been simple. Throw the ball over the plate and wait for the batter to hit it.
After two dominant performances, the 23-year old lefty is still waiting.
On Wednesday, Willis threw a three-hit complete game shutout to launch the Marlins to a 4-0 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. The victory was Willis' second complete game shutout in two starts this season. He opened the season with a 9-0 victory over the Washington Nationals on April 8.
Willis has been dominant in his two starts this year, holding the Nationals and Phillies to just eight hits combined in the two games. Willis' success can be attributed to the improved command he is showing.
After walking 36 batters before the All-Star break last year, Willis worked on his command by slightly adjusting his enormous leg kick to allow for greater control. He went on to walk 11 fewer batters in the second half and has continued to improve his control into this season.
Thus far, Willis has thrown 140 of his 211 pitches for strikes. He has allowed only one walk in each of his outings, notching 10 strikeouts in the process.
Willis has not been alone in his mastery of the mound at Dolphins Stadium. The Marlins starting rotation has compiled a 1.46 ERA in nine games so far. With four complete game shutouts already in the season, the Marlins have twice as many as anybody else in baseball.
Josh Beckett, Florida's opening day starter, has been almost as impressive as Willis, throwing 15 scoreless innings in his two starts. While Willis has succeeded with pinpoint control, Beckett has relied on his power, striking out 17 hitters.
On April 10, Beckett followed up his successful opening day start against the Atlanta Braves with a complete game shutout of the Nationals in which he rang up 11 strikeouts.
The Marlins have outscored opponents 44-15 this season, with a dominant 38-2 margin in victories. Still, the Marlins have only compiled a 5-4 record, a disappointing mark considering the quality pitching and the fact that all nine games were played at home. The main problem for the Marlins has been an inconsistent offense that has managed 38 runs in five wins, but just six in the four losses.
To meet the lofty expectations created by the signing of Carlos Delgado, the Marlins must turn around the offense and hope that the pitching continues. The Marlins will need Willis, a notoriously fast starter, to stay consistent and for injury-prone starters Beckett and A.J. Burnett to stay healthy.
If Willis is this year's April Cy Young winner, the MVP award has got to go to Philadelphia's Pat Burrell. In 45 at-bats, Burrell is hitting .405 with four home runs and 17 RBI.
Extrapolate that RBI total over a full 162-game season and Burrell is on pace for a mind-boggling 302 RBI. He has hit safely in all nine games and has driven in at least two runs in six of his nine games. Making his onslaught more impressive is the fact that all his RBI came in the first seven games.
Burrell and the Phillies hope that his torrid start is a sign that he is finally turning the corner in his career. The 28-year old outfielder entered the big leagues in 2000 with great hype about his potential.
After showing good power but poor plate discipline in his first two seasons, Burrell seemed to emerge as a star in 2002, when he hit .282 with 37 home runs and 116 RBI.
That season seemed to be a tease as Burrell followed it up with a dismal 2003 campaign in which he hit just .209. Although he still showed decent power in that season by smacking 21 home runs, Burrell regressed as a hitter. Other than his breakout 2002 campaign, Burrell has never managed to hit better than his .260 mark in his rookie season.
Besides his dream season in 2002 and nightmare season in 2003, Burrell has been consistently near his career .256 average. History suggests that he will probably return to similar numbers.
But that's the wonderful thing about baseball in April. At this point, Philadelphia fans and Burrell alike can dream of that 300 RBI season.
