Rich Hill

John, I'm wondering if you can comment a little bit on Hill.  A little while back in your Q&A session your response on him was something to the effect that he needs to get into a different organization.  I didn't ask then but I was wondering if you meant he needed a change of scenery to refresh his outlook or you were worried about how the Cubs treat pitchers.

Since that Q&A session (like it had something to do with it), Hill has been on a tear and has been on the verge of dominant.  In 8 of his last 9 starts he's allowed 2 earned runs or less.  The only outing he allowed more than 2 earend was in Colorado.  During that stretch his line looks like this:

55.2 IP, 42 hits, 16 ER, 16 BB, 51 K (2.58 ERA)

I do worry about Dusty overworking pitchers, Hill threw 120 last night, but I am also not nearly as worried about Hill increasing his workload being 26 instead of say 21.  His numbers over the last couple months are starting to resemble what he was doing in AAA.  He has really resembled early Zito over this stretch with a fastball around 90 and a devastating breaking ball.

Bobby Cox had a glowing review of Hill last night:

"He's tough," Atlanta manager Bobby Cox said of Hill. "He's going to be a real good one. He's a good guy to have in your rotation, that's for sure."

I'm asking specifically if you think this is his peak and can he maintain it?  Can he go even a step further to the level of dominance he showed at AAA?  Is this just a good stretch of work and he'll fall back to a #3-4 starter type?