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Shout Box clamoring for apologetics.  As y'know, we live to serve.  We DID see the beatings before last.  We DID see the lame excuses after the most recent beatings.  We did NOT see the most recent games, Feelix' "tired quadth" game and Pax-done's game today.  We saw everything else, back to and including the first 1999 ST game in which Feeblix' cap kept leaping off, calling penalties due to excessive 'Fro.  

So, obviously, SSI is more qualified than any source on earth to give you The Straight Dope (TM).

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Bill James was asked on TV, last week, why Justin Verlander isn't in the top 15 this year.  He gave an answer only he would give.  Ready for it?

"Justin Verlander took over the #1 slot not from Clayton Kershaw... but from Roy Halladay."

Found-R-Vision Translation:  five years is a long, LONG time for an ace to be acey.

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That said, Felix' dominance does not depend on the pop in his step.  No way no how.  And arm fatigue does not cause a pitcher's RPM to increase (and therefore his "change" to stop dropping; his change drops because of low RPM, not high RPM).

And we've seen Felix snap off curves, even in Arizona this year, that you could hear crack all the way up the coast.  We saw him throw 2 games ago, and reproduce everything he did last year.

No, princess, Felix centered some pitches and, in the air down there, people hit them.  The average fan just does not realize that Felix goes 16 games' consecutive UQS because he just goes that long without getting his fingers into the doggy's mouth.  

His fastball command is normally, if you can actually believe the experts are right for once, mind-numbingly consistent.  Felix is not Nolan Ryan plus a changeup.  He is Greg Maddux plus two feet and a better forkball.  He's Jered Weaver plus 3 MPH and two pitches.  That kind of pitcher gets sloppy, he gets hit.  That's all.

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There is one way in which Felix could stop being acey, these 8 years on, and that is if he's about to hit the DL.  Tired arms can sap command within the zone.  That was the way with Verlander.  He just has too many miles to keep feathering the pitches 98% of the time.  Now it's 92%.

I don't believe that's the case with Felix.  If you want to discuss further, light me up.

Why didn't he get a few losses last spring?  That goes to what we expect of Felix.  We expect him to not be a pitcher.  Every year will not be 2014.  Felix could lose 7 games this year, 2 more in Spring Training, and run a 3.54 ERA.  See Found-R-Vision.

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Paxton, it's real simple.  Two beatings ago, he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn.  He's behind 2-0, 3-1, 4-0, and then here's a get-me-over fastball.

Guys who use two pitches do have to start strike one.  That's not a cliche; it's an obvervation.  Well, guys with Paxton's two pitches have to start, Not Ball Two.

Paxton's at the start or middle of ST.  When he gets his touch, it's all over.  He don' have it yet.

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If this were Happ or Iwakuma or Elias, we'd be only too happy to foretell the impending doom, were the root causes dictating such.  Worry factor on these two?  None at all.  

Thass' the name o' that tune,

Dr D