Over the past three seasons, Washington’s Livan Hernandez was consistently hit hard if he was able to even pitch at all. The stats certainly prove it – an ERA  of 5.36 in 2008 was his best during a three year tailspin, 278 hits allowed in 224 innings, and a batting average against of over .300. Clearly, Hernandez was a shell of his former self.

After Barry Zito signed a monster – and largely panned – contract with the Giants, he promptly delivered little to nothing in return. In three seasons his ERA was no better than 4.03 and he consistently was unable to get beyond the sixth inning in his starts. $126 million should get something closer to a dominant pitcher, dontcha think?

Those days, clearly, were in the past for both Zito and Hernandez.

Or maybe not?

Suddenly both are delivering big dividends for any fantasy owner who was willing to stick with them, or managed to pick them up for this season. And they are leading a resurgence of dominant pitchers in the NL.

With workhorse Roy Halladay going to Philadelphia for the 2010 season, Zito’s back-to-back Cy Young teammate Tim Lincecum continuing to baffle hitters, and Colorado’s Ubaldo Jimenez throwing bb’s, the NL now boasts the bulk of the elite pitchers in baseball. As of this writing, six NL starters have ERA’s under 1.60, including Hernandez and Jimenez both sporting sub-1.00 marks. Yes, the lack of a DH does make for lower ERA’s in general in the NL and there are fewer power-laden offensive teams to face, but we’re talking dominant numbers across the board for these guys.

Here’s hoping you NL or combo league Scoresheet owners managed to snag one or two of them!

Let us know who has been your biggest surprise (or disappointment) player so far in the 2010 campaign. Comments are welcome below.