Admittedly, it may be Dr. D himself who is most in need of examination

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Q.  Does SSI fear, along with other sources, that Felix is injured?

A.  Nah.

Felix has now given up crooked numbers in 5 out of 6 starts, true dat.  And this is a guy who rips off 25 quality starts in a row.  Virtually.  So the fact that he's allowing earnies has thrown everybody into a state of confusion.  We sympathize.  Take two SSI articles and call us in the morning.

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Q.  What are the specific reasons you don't fear injury?

A.  First of all, Shandler Quality Starts.  When somebody offers Ron a starting pitcher in trade, he reviews the last month's worth of starts, but he doesn't look at earnies.  He grades each start 0-5, based on K's, BB's, H's, HR's, and IP within each start.  That goes beneath ERA to component skills and you can judge a pitcher's true form.  On the scale of 0-5, 3 is a "PQS" pure quality start; 4's and 5's show dominant form.

Here is Felix' game log.  In the last six starts, he's been "racked up" for crooked numbers five times -- but per Shandler PQS the scores are 3, 3, 3, 5, 0, 4, for an average of 3.0.  Compare Felix' last six starts of the year 2011:  0, 4, 3, 5, 5, 4 for an average of 3.5.

To put it another way, in May Felix had an ugly ERA of 4.45, but a sleek skills line of 33 strikeouts, 10 walks, and 4 homers in 32 innings.  That's simply not the skills line of an injured pitcher. 

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Q.  Are you saying that he's not injured?

A.  Not at all.  How could I say that?  I'm just saying he's not pitching like an injured man.  

We remind constantly:  over the course of a year we've all learned to ignore ERA and look at K/9, BB/9, HR/9.  Isn't it funny how we cannot ignore ERA over the course of a month, or a game?  :- )  Seriously.  Think about it.  Six runs in a start and we panic.  Our forebrains take over when we're dealing with tonight's visual.

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Q.  How did he throw the ball on Tuesday?

A.  His highest velocity all year, 92.3 MPH, touched 94 several times.  He had the same bite on his breaking pitches; his change actually dove 1" relative to vacuum, as if it had forward spin.  True, the cutter didn't rise much.

The ball came out of Felix' hand as well as it has all year.  Admittedly, his command was a bit off, given the 11-day rest.

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Q.  So what HAPPENED?

A.  For one thing, bad luck.  San Diego did not cause the outfielders Saunders, Ichiro, Figgins to retreat one time.  Not once.

As I recall -- check me -- had Chone Figgins not quit on Yonder Alonso's can of corn in the 6th, and had Kyle Seager flipped over for the double play instead of retreating to 3B for a force, Felix would have given up a grand total of 1 run.

I'm not saying Felix was perfect.  Am just saying a ball here, a ball there, and we are celebrating, not calling for MRI's.  :- )

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