Every once in a while, when I see an interesting topic come up in the Seattle blogosphere, I feel inclined to investigate further. It's what we do. So, when I read this inquisitive post and others ruminating on the fact that Brandon League is less-inclined to throw his split-fingered fastball this year (yes, it is a splitter, which I wrote about here when League was first traded for. He has a changeup as well, but it's a different pitch), I figured we'd better ask the man himself.

League, according to the post, threw his fastball 80 percent of the time from 2006-2008, but then reduced that to 65 percent last year, while employing the splitter, which the post calls "the hardest pitch in all of baseball to hit last year" about 30 percent of the time.

My first thought was, maybe there was an arm issue that made League throw the splitter less often this season. But, I always think that. So, I walked up to League on Friday, before the game, and asked him why he wasn't throwing his splitter as much.

"I use it as my last resort pitch,'' he said.

Let me explain. Last season, League was having trouble spotting his two-seam fastball (his sinker), which really is his best pitch. He began using the splitter more simply because, if he didn't, he was going to have a whole lot of trouble getting anyone out.

"Last year, I was 4.5,'' he said, referring to his ERA.

This year, that ERA is down to 3.41. It was 3.60 when we first spoke Friday, then he took it down more with the two scoreless innings yesterday. So, he's getting better results than last year by doing exactly what he's been doing. He hasn't blown a save in two months, since all that April bullpen confusion, when guys were being used (and overused) outside their normal roles. And while some of you may have an issue with "roles" in a bullpen, it matters to the guys actually on the mound doing the pitching.

But since April, League has been arguably the best guy in the bullpen.

League does not go to the mound trying to get strikeouts. When he comes on in situations where there are runners on base, he's trying to get a ground ball for a double-play.

That's where the two-seam fastball comes in.

When League is spotting it properly, it's awfully tough for hitters to get any type of good contact on it. And this year, League says, after some early season adjustments, he's been doing a better job of that.

But why not use the splitter more if it works?

As I said, he wants to use it as a last resort. Yesterday, when I went to talk to him after the game, he told me he'd used it a lot more in that seventh inning with one out and runners on second and third.

"That was a last resort,'' he said with a laugh. "They couldn't score there or it was a tie game. I had to get a strikeout.''

And when he absolutely needs a whiff, that's the one silver bullet in his arsenal he knows can get the job done.

Not to pad his stats and boast a prettier K/9 ratio. But to absolutely get a critical out or two when he needs it.

Otherwise, he said, his two-seam sinker is still his best pitch and the one he'll show hitters most often.

League is reluctant to overuse the splitter and expose it to hitters more. If he starts throwing it to get Strike 1, as J.J. Putz was known to do, then hitters will be a little more used to seeing it beforehand and more likely to lay off. Remember, a splitter is no good unless a hitter swings at it. The ball is going to wind up in the dirt. If they don't swing and the count goes to 1-0, or 2-0 or 3-1, then the hitter will be sitting on the two-seam, or four-seam, fastball, knowing League needs to throw a strike.

But if League is successfully spotting his two-seam fastball, knowing he can land the sinker for a strike down in the zone, or get hitters to roll over top of it, then he knows he can get outs by using that pitch. And then, with hitters not expecting it, the splitter becomes unhittable and can generate the results we saw yesterday.

But if the hitters know League will always throw the splitter with two strikes, then it becomes a useless pitch again because they'll simply take it for a ball. Even worse, any time you bury a ball in the dirt, there is a chance at a passed ball or wild pitch. League was quick to praise the work by catcher Eliezer Alfonzo yesterday.

So, it probably does League no good to make the splitter his automatic "out pitch", especially if he knows he can get outs with his sinker. Because the mere act of throwing it more often would make it less of an "out" pitch.

That's the reasoning. And League justifies it by pointing to his results. He's giving up fewer runs this year than last. Yes, I know ERA isn't everything. He probably does as well, since he's a major league relief pitcher. And yes, his Fielding Independent Pitching score (FIP) was better last year (3.58 to 4.24). But that's what you would expect from a guy relying more on a sinker, where his fielders are needed to record the outs. What the FIP score won't tell you is whether he got a double-play ball off that sinker, or whether the hitter he retired is a tough guy to strike out. The truth is, other than League getting a bit unlucky on some home run balls, his FIP this year is nearly identical to last season's, despite using his strikeout pitch less often.

The other numbers are there for League as well. He's getting more ground balls this year (64 per cent, up from 57.6), and fewer line drives (15.8 percent versus 17.9). And as long as he isn't blowing games, I don't expect we'll see him change all that much the rest of the way.