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In October of 1961, the Soviets set off a hydrogen bomb that, for all intents and purposes, set the limits of power for such a weapon (due to fallout affecting the initiator). When the Russkies lit up the 55-megaton "Tsar Bomba", the fireball alone blazed 5 miles in diameter and the mushroom cloud blossomed 200,000 feet into the air, about eight times the height of Mt. Everest. The cloud was 25 miles in diameter.
Picture a single bomb going off in Seattle, and blowing to smithereens all concrete and brick structures in ... Tacoma. Mammals being terminated by the heat in Olympia. Wooden houses in Portland being wiped out. Windows being broken in northern California.
The TNT equivalent would be represented by a cube about 1000' by 1000' by 1000', twice the height of the Space Needle. That's one H-bomb; obviously 30 or 40 of these would put any country in the past tense. The U.S. has 9,600 warheads. By the grace of heaven, you and I sat there all last week not worried in the least.
In related news, the Seattle Mariners lit up the 34-megaton starting pitcher "Felix Bomba" on the Twinks Saturday night. A few post-blast damage reports:
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Felix' spitball, er, his changeup, had a runs value of -4.55 coming into the game. Meaning that 100 changeups resulted in a -4.55 reduction in enemy runs scored. In this particular game, he threw 38 changeups (!!) and those changeups resulted in a -2.25 reduction in runs scored, over those 38 pitches.
Give me one pitch anywhere in baseball, and I'll take Felix' dry spitball. Bobby Murcer said he'd rather hit a 500-MPH fastball than Gaylord Perry's hard spitter. At least that way he'd have a chance.
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Though the Twinkies have a terrible record, their offense isn't all that bad. They're 22nd in the majors in wRC+, right next to the Angels. They've got Denard Span, Joe Mauer, and Josh Willingham's OPS+ is 185. They've got six players who draw good walks, have lots of lefty hitters, rank decently in AVG, OBP, 2Bs and SB's. They ain't the Red Sox but Felix didn't blow away the 2010 Mariners out there.
It helps CC Sabathia's stats, a lot, that he never faces the Yankees. It has hurt Felix' stats, a lot, that he never faces the Mariners. Don't dis' him for finally getting a single game against a team in the bottom 50% of the league.
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He didn't throw the cutter tonight, not to speak of. Huh. He had absolutely no use for it. The curve was unreal, dropping 19" relative to a fastball (!!) and getting 19% swinging strikes. The slider drew 25% swinging strikes.
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His fastball seems to have stabilized at 91.5 MPH, which coming from him is 92-93 MPH due to release point. Jered Weaver's pinpoint fastball plus three feet.
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Coming into the year, Felix ranked as the world's #8 starting pitcher. I thought that was about right. Verlander, Halladay, Cliff Lee, Kershaw, and a few others were more consistently dominant.
As of right now, though, I'll take Felix over anybody. Verlander included. This is the version of Felix that needs rules written against him. I wanna go to a playoff game in which the New York Yankees swagger in ... only to find Felix Hernandez standing on the mound, head back, shoulders loose, taking the sign for the first pitch.
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This last coupla days, our crack Klat admins have been taking care of bidness behind the curtain. Mega-props to them for the best platform in the blogosphere (the giant SBNation being a different animal), as well as for the easygoing OK that they gave to Spec's site.
Several SSI articles got eaten by the machines the last few days, and hopefully we'll have a handful to release on Monday and Tuesday.
T'anks amigos :- )
Felix does look like he's turning into Pedro... If you crossed Pedro with a horse.
I was doing something and didn't see the Twin's 4th last night, the only one I missed.
Other than that, Felix looked pretty dang Phil Humber-esque.
In the sense that nobody had a chance against him, you understand. That was the best I've ever seen him look, really. I don't remember a ripped shot or a ball that had a chance to get through.
Imagine how good he would have looked if he had a real catcher to throw to!!! (He says snidely!)
He throws any pitch at nearly any count. He does't leave the curve up or the heater centered. He's Tom Seaver, except Seaver never had back-to-back years like Felix had in '09-'10. (If you young guys don't remember how good Seaver was until he hit 32...check it out).He isn't quite Greg Maddux, which is understandable, as Maddux was the best to ever throw, this side of 1930. But Felix's talent now lives in the same Zip Code as Maddux's.
Felix, Halladay, Verlander, C.C., Lee are Triple Crown winning stud hosses (to quote Billy Clyde Puckett). Gimme Felix or Verlander from here on out, however.
"....they're rounding the clubhouse turn, it's Seattle Slew and Secretariat, neck and neck. At the last pole its Seattle Slew and Secretariat. With 200 yards to go it's Seattle Slew and Secretariat, stride for stride and nose to nose. At the wire it's........it's........too durn close to call!" But for my money, I bet on Seattle Slew.
Sabathia as War Admiral, Halladay as Citation, Cliff Lee as Whirlaway ain't bad either,
He and Verlander are the true thoroughbreds, based on their past accomplishments and their future payout.
Oh, what hardly got mentioned last night was Eraso Ramirez getting a ticket to Tacoma. What will it take, three or four starts there before he's got Millwood's spot?
I'm not sure that I buy that you have to send him down to let him relearn how to start. He's 22 years old and has 73 minor league starts. He hasn't forgotten how to throw 90-100 pitches tomorrow. Ah...but we have to be careful with our young arm. So the 90-100 pitches he throws in Tacoma in his first start are somehow different than the 90-100 he would throw here.
Anyway Doc...What's the over/under on Tacoma starts for him?
Now I'll post this and go look for the Seager thread I'm sure is waiting for me. The way his bat whacked his back on the crushed tater last night did remind me of a Reggie Jackson follow through, btw.
But what I really loved was the the interview after the game with Seager. He basically said, "I know Gray, so I went up looking for a 1st pitch fastball."
What's her name asked him about the "professional AB," but that wasn't it at all. It was the learned approach and the (gimme my) pitch stalking mentality that was the critical bit of info revealed.
And there were those that scoffed that Seager was a 35 double 12 homer guy. (I won't mention, btw, that I frequently said Saunders was worth less than a can of spam).
On another note, I've become convinced that Smoak is swinging too long of a lever, really. Longer lever=more time. He can't square it up. He's a lazy fly/can of corn machine. Some golfers can't swing an extra-long driver. Tiger was best with the standard length driver with a metal shaft.
Remember how short Bonds' bat looked, and how he light-speed whipped it through the zone?
That's my RX for Smoak. Get rid of the biiiiiiig timber and get a shorter bat. Maybe a shorter lighter one, but shorter certainly.
Dump the big lever.
Take two aspirin and call me in the morning. I'm not a real Doc (there is only one), but I played doctor when I was a youngster.
moe
...was a classic "ace bad"...i.e. he wasn't pitching poorly...he got squeezed on a few close calls with two outs and a runner at third (who reached there by a routine seeing eye single to left, a sac bunt and a chopper two hopper to the right side) and then decided to pitch around the hot Willingham...then he walked an extra guy but it certainly didn't feel like he was out of control in that at bat...then he got an easy fly out.
to polish a piece or two up, get 'em spit shiny, then lose them.
But I'm sure all of us join with me in thanking you for all you and the admins do to produce and provide this site. It's my favorite. By FAR.