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Johnson and Hammel impressive

Updated: June 25, 2009, 1:21 PM ET

By Tom Haberstroh | Special to ESPN Insider

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NL's best starter meets AL best lineup

Florida starter Josh Johnson has to be the leading candidate for the National League Cy Young Award so far. The tall righty has a 7-1 record on a barely .500 ballclub and a 2.66 ERA and 1.05 WHIP. After Tommy John surgery, the right-hander features three excellent pitches, but his best might be the changeup, which was completely ineffective last year. This season, hitters have just a .154 batting average against the pitch thanks to a 61 percent ground-ball percentage. Just imagine if he had a decent defense behind him.

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