Brett Anderson is an unlikely candidate to be the last man standing from the back end of the Dodgers rotation. By Owen Main

He was supposed to be the fifth starter. When the Dodgers took a flier on Brett Anderson prior to this season, they hoped he could stay healthy through most of the year, show some flashes of brilliance, and solidify the rotation as a guy who had a great supporting cast around him.

Then Hyun-jin Ryu got hurt. Then Twitter buddy Brandon McCarthy went down, and all of a sudden, Anderson became a the third best starter on a team expected to contend for a World Series this season.

When he was signed, I wrote a little about his wonderful Twitter feed. Now, things are getting a little more serious than that.

The baseball season is almost halfway through and Brett Anderson is still pitching — by all indications healthy and strong. While others have gone down around him, the lefty has lowered his ERA to 3.00 and been good for 2.0 WAR — on pace for about 4 for the season, if he can stay healthy.

His health remains a big if, but he doesn’t show any signs of slowing-down. He’s thrown at least seven innings in three of his past four starts — two of which were at least 113 pitches. Anderson has gone at least five innings in every start since the beginning of May, during which time he’s lowered his ERA by almost two and a half points. He’s quickly becoming a really reliable starter for a team that really needed him to be.

Last night, Anderson allowed just a single run over seven innings. The 27 year old struck out seven, walked just two, and threw “just” 95 pitches.

Whatever his performance for the rest of the season, and no matter what other starting pitchers the Dodgers manage to trade for, that at around the halfway mark of the season, Brett Anderson had performed WELL above what Dodger fans could have reasonably expected him to do.

Now about getting a little more starting pitching…

Freshman Slater Lee showed Cal Poly fans why Larry Lee inserted him as the Saturday starter in the opening series. By Owen Main

Coming into his first collegiate appearance, I wondered how good Slater Lee really was. As a true freshman, could he really step-in and be a number-two starter on a team that has aspirations larger than the regional they made it to last year?

In his debut, Lee didn’t disappoint.

If there is an aspect of the team that is a big question-mark for Cal Poly this year, it is the reliability of the Friday and Saturday starters. On Saturday, Lee struck-out seven and allowed just one run in 6 1/3 innings, giving up only two hits.

The one Kansas State run got off Lee was the result of a double-play ball that went off his foot followed by a swinging bunt. The Wildcats only managed to get one ball out of the infield on Lee all night long.

Mustang true freshman Slater Lee leaves the game in the 7th leading 3-1…6 1/3 IP 1R 2H 7K 1W. Only one ball to the outfield. Nice job!

— 'C.J.' Silas (@cjsilas) February 16, 2014

The season is a long one, but on Saturday, Cal Poly fans saw why Larry Lee put a freshman as his number-two starter.

Assistant coach Teddy Warrecker was especially pleased with Lee’s performance, calling it “special” on Twitter.

Slater Lee was special tonight in his first college start #gamer

— Teddy Warrecker (@teedubb25) February 16, 2014

With the win, Cal Poly clinches the series against Kansas State for the second straight year. They’ll go for the sweep Monday at 1:00.

[See image gallery at www.fansmanship.com]