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The Yankees may not see a pitcher on a better roll this season than Mariners ace Felix Hernandez, who faces them on Friday.

David Price entered Yankee Stadium on Thursday with a 4-0 mark and 1.55 ERA in his previous four starts, and the Yankees were able to score five runs against him.

They’ll be challenged to do that well against Hernandez, who has an 0.95 ERA and .169 opponents batting average in his last five starts. He allowed one hit in eight innings in his last start against the Twins.

What is Hernandez doing so well?
Hernandez is getting left-handed hitters and right-handed hitters out at a high rate. Lefties are hitting .184 in this stretch against him. Righties are hitting .140.

Hernandez’s fastball ranges from 90 to 94 miles-per-hour and he’s actually lost a mile or two per hour off it, but he keeps it away from hitters’ comfort zones.

Hernandez throws fastballs to the outside part of the plate 62 percent of the time, the second-highest rate in baseball for a starting pitcher. Only 16 percent of his fastballs (about one of every six) are over the middle-third, width-wise, the second lowest rate in the majors.

That limits damage, but it’s his secondary pitch that makes him great.

Hernandez will throw his changeup to both left and right-handed hitters, and though the separation between it and the fastball isn’t great (three to five miles-per-hour), it makes hitters look foolish.

In his last five starts, Hernandez has gotten 35 outs with the changeup and yielded just two hits.

If there’s hope for the Yankees, it’s that the only other right-handed pitcher with more strikeouts against both righties and lefties since 2011 is James Shields, whom the Yankees beat earlier this week.

Who has the best shot at hitting Hernandez?
Two Yankees in particular hit Hernandez well last season-- Robinson Cano and Mark Teixeira.

Cano was 5-for-9 against Hernandez last season after going 1-for-9 against him in 2010. Teixeira was 3-for-6 with two home runs and four walks last season.

Teixeira’s five home runs are the most of anyone against Hernandez. Nick Swisher is second with four.

One decision for the binder could be whether to start Jayson Nix, who went 3-for-3 with three line drive hits in his start against Hernandez last season.

In terms of those who succeed against Hernandez’s best pitches, Yankeemetrician blogleague Katie Sharp notes a pair-- Alex Rodriguez has six hits, including a homer, against changeups this season, and Russell Martin has any many hits against fastballs on the outer-third (six) as he has against all other fastballs he’s seen this season.

King Felix Stat of the Day
Hernandez has made three straight starts at Yankee Stadium in which he’s allowed one run or fewer. The last pitcher with a streak of that many starts allowing that few runs on the road against the Yankees was Joe Coleman, who had four in a row from 1971 to 1973.

In those three starts, Hernandez has allowed a total of one run and 11 hits in 24 innings.

The Yankees are 2-for-43 in two-strike situations against him in those three games.

First thing, they need Jim Bowden to leave his burgeoning career as an on-air personality on ESPN and Sirius-XM. Then, they need him to be hired by the Seattle Mariners to run their team.

In the meantime, Bowden has an Insider column where he says the Yankees and Mariners should make a deal. This is what he says:

• Yankees acquire: RHP Felix Hernandez
• Mariners acquire: RHP Ivan Nova, C Jesus Montero, RHP Dellin Betances

Seattle Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik says he's not going to trade Hernandez, but if the Mariners eventually want to become legitimate contenders they might have to. A blockbuster four-player deal with the Yankees would point the Mariners in the right direction.

Nova and Betances would go fit into a young rotation of Michael Pineda, Danny Hultzen and Jason Vargas -- a formidable five that should develop into a quintet of 15-game winners. Montero would give them a long-term, middle-of-the-order bat they would control for the next six years. And with the money saved on Hernandez, they could put that toward signing Prince Fielder.

The Yankees, on the other hand, would have one of the best 1-2 punches at the top of the rotation in C.C. Sabathia and Hernandez, and instantly improve their chances of getting back to the World Series.

One problem with this happening is that Zduriencik told me during the Winter Meetings that he isn't trading King Felix. Still, what do you think of Bowden's proposal?

To me, Brian Cashman is right. You can't do something just to do something. You look at someone like C.J. Wilson and it just screams as if for $80 million or $100 million it will be a "stupid" move.

If the Yankees are truly going to try and push their payroll beneath $189 million, then they have to be smart in what moves they make. Overreacting leads to silly moves that handcuff you in later years.

The Yankees have to bide their time and wait for a King Felix or someone of that ilk shakes free. If they can acquire a Jon Danks using their more middling prospects, then it is worth it. But for major pieces, he is not worth it. Patience is what will lead to smart moves.

I killed it.

I spoke to Ms GM Jack Zduriencik in this article here. Zduriencik made it certain that he will not deal Felix Hernandez at this time.

Now, my question to you, is as follows, if you were Yankees GM Brian Cashman, would you wait for Hernandez in hopes in the next few years he is traded or would you move on to lesser talents?

Be heard.

Every so often, the Yankees check in with the Seattle Mariners about Felix Hernandez and ask, "is he available?" And every time, they've always been told "no."

If at some point the Dodgers were to put Clayton Kershaw out there, the Yankees would love to take a run at him. If and when the Cincinnati Reds decide they need to trade Joey Votto, who is a free agent after the 2013 season, the Yankees would be in a position, because their farm system is in really good shape, to load up some of their prospects and take a run at Votto -- and perhaps convince him to play right field because of course they have Mark Teixeira.

They're very comfortable filling in complementary roles from their farm system. If they can add some elite player from the outside, as they tried to do during the 2010 season in a possible trade with Seattle for Cliff Lee, that's when they'll use their prospects in a trade.

Next up for the Yankees in their weekend of pitching powerhouses is Mariners ace Felix Hernandez. The Cy Young winner will try to better the effort of Michael Pineda, who was a bit wild in his first meeting with the Yankees. That was an outlier performance for a group of starting pitchers who have a 1.75 ERA and have averaged better than seven innings per game over their last 13 starts.

Felix Hernandez Matchup to Watch
Curtis Granderson started his career with eight hits in his first 12 at-bats against Hernandez, capped by a four-hit game against the righty in September 2007.

But since then, Hernandez has gotten the better of the matchup. Granderson is 3-for-22 with nine strikeouts since that offensive outburst. Thanks to Baseball-Reference.com and its matchup pages, we can tell you that the last 17 times Hernandez has gotten Granderson in a two-strike count, he's gotten him out.

Ivan Nova Matchup to Watch
Since pitching a two-hitter over 7 1/3 innings in a win over the Rangers on May 6, Nova has allowed 25 hits (and 12 runs) in 15 innings. His toughest challenge may be Mariners shortstop Brendan Ryan, who is hitting .542 with 13 hits and six RBI during a seven-game hit streak. Amazingly, Ryan has almost as many hits in those seven games as he did in 76 at-bats in April (14).

That’s Why He's The King
Hernandez is 4-0 with an 0.51 ERA in his last four starts against the Yankees. In each of those starts against them, he has pitched at least eight innings and allowed one earned run or fewer. The last pitcher with a longer streak -- former White Sox knuckleballer Wilbur Wood from 1972 to '73 (five starts).

Jeter Watch
Since getting three ground-ball hits in last weekend's series against the Mets, Derek Jeter is 2-for-18 overall, and has made 10 straight outs when hitting the ball on the ground. His two hits in this stretch both came on line drives.

Jeter is a .304 career hitter against Hernandez, including two hits in eight at-bats last season. Of the last eight times Jeter has faced Hernandez, he has hit six ground balls and two line drives.

Better Get it All The Way Over the Fence
If you didn't see the great catch by Mariners center fielder Franklin Gutierrez against Nick Swisher last night, check out Web Gems.

Gutierrez tied for the major-league lead with three home-run robberies in 2010, but he’s not the only one on the Mariners who can go get the ball. Right fielder Ichiro Suzuki also had three homer robberies last season. He's yet to get one this year.

Stat of the Day
If Hernandez beats the Yankees, he will have something he's never had before -- a winning May. Hernandez enters the day 8-17 with a 4.70 ERA in May (2-2, 2.68 ERA this season). Fair warning for all teams who follow the Yankees next month: He's 15-3 career in June.

Felix Hernandez put himself in some elite company after tossing eight-innings of shutout ball in the Bronx on Friday night.

Hernandez has gone at least eight innings in all three of his starts against the Yankees this season. He’s struck out at least nine in all three and has allowed only one earned run against the Bombers.

Lefty Grove and Bob Feller are the only other pitchers since 1920 to go at least eight innings, strike out at least nine and allow one or fewer earned runs against Yankees in three starts in the same season.

“He’s got a lot of weapons,” Joe Girardi said after Hernandez allowed just four hits and struck out 11.

Hernandez is 4-0 with a 0.51 ERA against the Yanks over the last two seasons.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Hernandez has the fifth lowest single-season ERA (0.35 ERA) against the Yankees in baseball history among pitchers who have thrown at least 25 innings.

"His ERA speaks for itself and sure enough, he lowered it a little bit more tonight," Curtis Granderson said.

A.J. BURNED: Bad A.J. was back in the Bronx on Friday night.

Yankees right-hander A.J. Burnett allowed six runs on 12 hits in seven innings against Seattle. Girardi said Burnett, who was coming off two strong starts prior to getting roughed up on Friday, struggled with his command against the Mariners.

Burnett (9-11, 4.80 ERA) allowed a three-run homer to Russell Branyan in the top of the first and gave up another homer to Branyan in the sixth.

“I just missed my spots,” Burnett said after throwing a season-high 122 pitches.

Burnett fell to 0-8 in his last 12 starts in August, dating back to 8/24/08, according to Elias.

ACE IS UP: Reliever Alfredo Aceves (remember him?) will throw three innings on Saturday for the Trenton Thunder, who are playing in Portland, Maine, against the Sea Dogs. Aceves, who has been sidelined with a strained lower back since May 12, says he has been pain-free for the past two weeks.

But the righty still has many more hurdles to pass before returning to the Bronx.

“This is spring training for him,” Girardi said. “We think he still needs to build some arm strength and get sharper. We’ll call him back as soon as there’s a need. But we want to make sure he’s ready before he gets back.”

SEE YA, ZACH: The Yankees announced that they have sent minor-league pitcher Zach McAllister to Cleveland to complete the Austin Kearns trade. He was 8-10 with a 5.09 ERA in Triple-A this season.

McAllister entered the 2010 season ranked by Baseball America as the 5^th best prospect in the Yankees organization. He went 7-5 with a 2.23 ERA last season in Double-A Trenton. McAllister was selected by the Yankees in the third round of the 2006 draft.

NUNEZ ON CLOUD NINE: Eduardo Nunez spent five-plus seasons in the Yankees’ farm system. He said on Friday afternoon that his call-up to the Bronx is “the most excited I’ve been in my life.”

He hoped to fly his mother, Victoria Mendez, in from the Dominican Republic for a game soon. He said he has family from Boston and New York who have been hounding him for tickets to a Yankee game. He hasn’t fulfilled any requests yet.

Nunez was called up from Triple-A Scranton on Thursday to give the Yankees needed depth in the infield. Ramiro Pena has started the last four games at third base while Alex Rodriguez recovers from a strained left calf.

Nunez replaced Derek Jeter at short and then switched positions with third baseman Ramiro Pena in the top of the ninth on Friday night.