What got into Bronson Arroyo?

Yes, he is pitching better than he ever has before. His ERA is half his previous career ERA (1.98 as opposed to 4.59). He's cut his WHIP nearly in half (1.36 to 0.88) and upped his strikeouts per nine innings by three runs over last year (4.38 to 7.24).

But it's his hitting, not his pitching, that's been the most revelatory.

Arroyo came into 2006 with just four career hits and two extra base hits, both doubles, in 55 at-bats for a .088 batting average. He also struck out 60% of the time (33 out if 55 ABS).

So far in 2006, he has two homers, one per game, in four at-bats. If he keeps this up he can set a new home run record for pitchers. Here are the best homer years for players whose primary position was pitcher in the given year:

He could become just the third pitcher to record a home run per game in a season. The other twp are:

Finally, he's allowed as many homers as he's hit, 2. Here are the pitchers who allowed as many homers as they hit (min. of two):

I don't expect any of this to continue, neither the great pitching or historic batting, but, what the hay, it makes things interesting.