Pitching it the theme of this Monday piece as we take a survey of some of the starting pitchers who have taken the hill recently.Brett Anderson seems to have forgotten just how hard this game is. Returning from Tommy John Surgery, Anderson has been as good as any pitcher in baseball over his four outings. In fact, he's pitching out of his mind right now. Anderson has been so good that's he's allowed a total of 17 hits and three walks over 26 innings (he's gone at least six innings in each of his four starts). That effort is good for a 0.66 WHIP as batters have hit a mere .185 against him. Anderson has also allowed a total of two runs in his four starts leading to a 0.69 ERA. He's out of control right now and is a must start even if you're in a 6-team mixed league (please tell me you aren't). Still, he's not Craig Kimbrel, so let's hope when the regression comes that it's slow and steady and not emphatic.Bronson Arroyo doesn't strike anyone out, the last time he had seven Ks in a game was 12 starts ago, but that doesn't mean he hasn't been an impressive hurler of late for the Reds. Arroyo has won his last five decisions and has emerged with a “W” in five of his last six starts. During that run of six starts Arroyo has allowed more than two earned runs in just one outing, he allowed three runs over 6.1 innings to the Cubs on August 17th. It shouldn't be that much of a shock that he's had success. After a 3.73 ERA and 1.20 WHIP in the first half he has a 3.56 ERA and 1.19 WHIP since the All-Star break (11 starts). Again, 38 Ks in 68 innings is terrible, but everyone is able to look past that when you see that his record has been 8-2 in that time. Chris Capuano has had a great season for the Dodgers as he's posted a 3.59 ERA with a 1.18 WHIP, 7.72 K/9 mark an a 3.16 K/BB ratio in what will end up being his best season since 2005. After being battered for 12 runs in back-to-back starts to end August, there was a worry that Capuano's successful run of success was coming to an end. Consider that sentiment put on hold. In his last two trips to the hill Chris may not have a win, but he's allowed five runs and given the Dodgers a chance to win both games (which they did after he was removed). Capuano has been particularly effective when pitching at home this season as he has a 2.84 ERA and 1.09 WHIP over 14 outings at Dodgers Stadium. Michael Fiers probably wasn't drafted in any 12 team mixed league back in March (I'd be shocked if he was literally drafted in any of the hundreds of thousands of leagues). That means he will go down as one of the better waiver-wire additions of the 2012 season. In 19 outings, 18 starts for the Brewers, Fiers is sporting a 3.15 ERA with a 1.18 WHIP. When you add in more than a K per inning, 111 in 109.1, an a 3.70 K/BB ratio, you have a borderline elite pitcher --- off waivers. His production has clearly slipped since mid-August as he has gone 3-3 with a 6.44 ERA and 1.62 WHIP. He's still struck out more than a batter per inning, 31 in 29.1 frames, but he's also seen his walk rate skyrocket to 4.3 per nine leading to some of his struggles. He's no longer a lock to start every time he's on the hill at this point, but he has allowed one earned run in two of his last three starts so he still seems to have some mojo left. Jeremy Hefner has been all over the map his last four starts. In two of the outings he's tossed 14 innings and allowed three runs total for the Mets. In the other two outings he's allowed 10 runs over just 7.2 innings. The rookie has had a rough go for the Mets this season with not much positive going on. He doesn't beat himself with walks (1.61 per nine), and he's a decent ground ball arms (47 percent of batted balls), but that's pretty much the extend of his efforts. He's been even worse in his 10 starts this year with a 5.24 ERA and 1.46 WHIP. He's barely worth a look even in NL-only leagues at the moment. CC Sabathia has made four starts since he returned from the DL and all of them have lasted at least 6.1 innings. Three of the four outings have also been of the “quality” variety, and in point of fact his ERA in the four games is 3.58 compared to his 3.56 ERA for the year. He looks to be pretty close to the CC of old, even though he's actually allowed 13 runs over his last three starts (10 have been earned). The real problem has been the long ball as he's been taken deep six times in the four starts. He's now allowed 21 homers on the year, his most in three seasons even thought he's yet to hit 170 innings this season after going over 237 each of the last two. That home run rate should ev en out a bit over the rest of the season unless oddity reigns, and with it Sabathia should return to being a fantasy star.Jeff SamarRay Flowers can be heard daily on Sirius/XM Radio on The Fantasy Drive on Sirius 210 and XM 87 from 7 PM EDT Monday through Thursday, and 9p-12a Friday's. Ray's baseball analysis can be found at BaseballGuys.com and his minute to minute musings can be located at the BaseballGuys' Twitter account.dzija's season ended on a high note. In his last start of the year he was allowed to throw a season-high 120 pitches on the way to complete game against the Pirates (he allowed three runs, two earned, while walking one and striking out nine). Samardzija will finish his first season as a Cubs' starter with a 9-13 record, but that doesn't begin to tell the story. In his 28 starts he punched out 180 batters in 174.2 innings, and with just 56 walks he had better than a three to one strikeout to walk ratio. He also posted a 3.81 ERA and 1.22 WHIP, ratios that wouldn't hurt you in any format. Not just that JS, who slumped in June with a horrific 10.41 ERA and 2.06 WHIP, rebounded hard over his final 13 outings sporting a 2.58 ERA, 1.07 WHIP an a 4.32 K/BB ratio as he threw strikes, struck batters out, and just didn't issue walks. That's the key to success folks. His performance obviously didn't dictate shutting him down, but the Cubs likely are doing the right thing here given that Samardzija threw 174.2 innings this season, five innings more than he tossed in his first four seasons in the big leagues. If only the Nationals had been so forgiving with Stephen Strasburg.