​While CJ Abrams, James Wood and the rest of the National League hitters could not get anything going last night, we did get to see Foster Griffin at his best. The Nats southpaw threw a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts to continue his magical season. Baseball fans got a taste of what Nats fans have seen all year long out of the lefty.Griffin came in for the 5th inning, and made quick work of three of the AL’s most underrated hitters. The first batter he faced was Yandy Diaz, who he struck out on three pitches. Diaz strikes out under 14% of the time, so it is no easy task to mow him down on three pitches. After that he struck out Dillon Dingler on a changeup, the same pitch he put Diaz away with.The last hitter of the inning was Miguel Vargas who drove a ball in the gap, but the speedy Andy Pages tracked it down to finish the inning. It was classic Griffin, with the lefty showing off four of his seven pitches. As usual, he featured his cutter the most, but it was his changeup that finished guys off.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementInterestingly, he did not throw a single fastball. With the best hitters in the world at the dish, I wonder if Griffin wanted to stay away from the heater, which is far from his best offering. Eight of his 10 pitches were either cutters or changeups. He also threw one sweeper and one curve.I found it amusing that the Phillies fans booed Griffin when he was introduced at the All-Star Game. He has had a pair of stellar outings against the Phillies, so I get why they were booing him. The idea of a fanbase booing Foster Griffin at an All-Star game would have seemed unfathomable a few months ago.It is just another chapter in a truly incredible story. Before going to Japan, Griffin was a first round bust who had only pitched a few games at the MLB level. However, when he went to Japan, Griffin went with an open mind and learned how to pitch. I remember one interview he did, where he said if you are to get the best out of your experience in Japan, you can’t just think about going back to the big leagues at the first opportunity.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementInstead of using Japan purely as a one year stop to try and get back to the big leagues as soon as possible, he embraced the baseball culture. Griffin spent three years over there and added a number of different pitches, including a splitter, which is pretty much Japan’s national pitch.Griffin kept getting better and better, before deciding the time was right to test himself again. Despite the great numbers in Japan, he only got a 1-year $5.5 million deal. Teams looked at the 91 MPH fastball and wrote him off. However, the Nats gave him a shot to be a starter and he has rewarded them with All-Star caliber production.As Foster Griffin walked off the mound at Citizens Bank Park, it was the culmination of many years of hard work and experimentation. He reinvented himself as a pitcher by taking a risk and going to the other side of the world. That is pretty c