Alex Liddi: Seattle Mariners 3B Earns AL Worst of the Night Award

Seattle Mariners' third baseman Alex Liddi will strike out on occasion. He posted a strikeout rate near 40 percent in limited action last season, and his strikeout rate is up over 30 percent this season.

Liddi's strikeout rate did not go down during Thursday's contest against the Los Angeles Angels. On the contrary, it went the other direction. And how?

Liddi did something on Thursday that he's only done once before in his brief career, and that's don the Golden Sombrero. He struck out four times against Angels ace Dan Haren, who went the distance and punched out a grand total of 14. 

Haren had it all working on Thursday night, but he didn't have to get too fancy in his matchups with Liddi. I'll keep it simple and just run through how Liddi was defeated in each of his four at-bats.

AB No. 1: Liddi came up with nobody out and a runner on first in the bottom of the first, and struck out swinging on a splitter on the outside corner.

AB No. 2: Liddi led off the bottom of the fourth, and struck out swinging on a splitter on the outside corner.

AB No. 3: Liddi came up with a runner on second and two out in the bottom of the sixth, and struck out swinging on a splitter down out of the zone (sensing the trend yet?).

AB No. 4: Liddi led off the bottom of the ninth, and struck out swinging on a splitter on the outside corner.

So yeah, all four of Liddi's punchouts came on virtually the same pitch. If you want to see for yourself, you can check out the video highlights over at MLB.com.

To be fair to Liddi, he's certainly not the first hitter to be overwhelmed by Haren's splitter, and he won't be the last. Haren's at his best when he's painting the corners with his fastball and then dropping his splitter just down below the strike zone. If he has those two pitches working, he can toy with hitters all night long.

Another thing people should know about Liddi is that he took a different path to the majors than most young players. He grew up in Italy, and he holds the distinction of being the first player from the Major League Baseball International European Academy to graduate to the major leagues (see MLB.com).

While he was progressing towards the show, I'm guessing he didn't see too many guys who threw splitters like Haren's. It suffices to say Thursday was a learning experience for Seattle's 23-year-old hot-corner-manner.

I feel like doing my part to make sure he remembers Thursday's lesson, so I have decided to bestow the American League "Worst of the Night" award on Liddi.

It's a great honor, except not. Either way, he earned it.

If you ever want to nominate somebody for American League "Worst of the Night" honors, hit me up on Twitter.