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Q.  Joy of Felix, eh?

A.  Felix' joy, as in.  Genitive case, Zum-bro'.  Your move.

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Q.  Felix let the ball go with some conviction, Saturday.  That was okay by me.

A.  Jim Bouton wrote in Ball Four, warming up before his big start with the Astros I think ... "Try to find that tricky elusive thought, the one that makes you feel so smooth and competent.  World B. Free once explained his hot rolls shooting from the perimeter, "I dunno, man, one goes in just the right way and then you have that hop in your step."

Saturday, Felix was grinding his way through another gritty 1st inning, 24 pitches, and then he got to bat in the top of the 2nd.  He smoked a double down the RF line and then joyfully galumphed into second.

He came out for the second inning, and struck out the first two guys on six pitches ... you could see the "hop in his step," the danger in his shoulder turn, the snap on the release as he threw both fastballs and offspeed.

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Q.  He sold the offspeed stuff, and got some half positions?

A.  I especially enjoyed the pitch sequences to the first two hitters after his double.  To RH Forsythe:

1. Fastball* up at the letters, 0-1
2. VICIOUS 79 CURVEBALL FROZE HIM CRISPY, 0-2
3. Changeup diving out of the zone, garbage strike three

Then to LH Cabrera:

1. Fastball* on the black, called strike 1
2. VICIOUS 80 CURVEBALL FROZE HIM CRACKLY, 0-2
3. 92 backdoor cutter, came back to catch the black, 0-3

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Q.  Why the asterisks?

A.  At SSI the asterisk means I know, I know, not literally true, LrKrBoi29, just essentially true.  Siddown and shaddap LrKrBoi29... oh, wait, that isn't fair.  You did shaddap.  Okay then. 

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::turning to hardball fans::  Felix now throws three fastballs; it's just that they break in three directions.  Check the movement chart at the top.  His "changeup" and his "two-seamer" and his "cutter" all travel at 89-92 mph - no differentiation to the hitter, and by "none" we mean "none."  His two-seamer varies as much against itself as it does against his cutter or changeup.

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Q.  He threw a good cutter?

A.  Nineteen cutters, saving -1.9 runs against average over the course of those 19 pitches.  I'm still not sure what Brooks means by that.  I guess if he threw 100 cutters he'd save -10 runs with them?  So the M's could win 5 to (-6)?  Somebody help a brother out.

They couldn't hit the cutter with a paddle.  Here is the original SSI article on the subject.  The cut fastball is in full flower:  Felix threw one the first pitch of the game.  Think about that for a second.

Felix threw a cutter on pitch 1.  And, by the way, he threw a cutter on pitch 2!  

And he threw a cut fastball -- a 91 MPH fastball breaking the wrong way, away from a RH -- again on pitch 3.  And on pitch 5.  And on pitch 6.

On pitch 7 he threw a regular two-seamer, breaking in to Cameron Maybin, and Maybin smoked that for a base hit.  But nobody ever* hit a cutter.  Somebody go through the GameDay and check me on that?

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Q.  He threw a lot of curves, too.

A.  Brooks had him at 15, but it was actually 19 curves, 19 of 93 pitches.  And he SOOLLLLLLLDDD it, making his fastball play up.  Finally a game in which the batters were late on the heater and in front of the yakker.

KGaffney noted the need for some velo separation.  Felix has all he needs, if he will throw that yakker with bad intentions.  

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PART TWO

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