.

No, LrKrBoi11 ;- ) he ain't back because he blew away a depleted Angels' lineup.  He's back, is 'cause of the (glorious) flight of the ball ... his delivery of his CG to the left front sector of the mound ... and his deployment of the old baffling myriad of pitch sequences.

We guess this makes sense.  All pitchers, other than Randy Johnson and apparently James Paxton, go through biorhythms.  

Grant Green had kind of a tough night.  In the immortal words of Bruce Lee:  "You want me to prove it?  Okay!  I'll prove it!  I'll need some one to prove it ON ..."

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Grant Green, IP 7

Welcome to purgatory, kid.  Here are three implements of torture with which you'll be spending time throughout the remainder of Felix Hernandez' career:

 

Pitch 1:  Patented Felix 93 fastball into a teacup at the knees.

Remember, Felix releases the ball considerably farther out in front than average; it's effectively 95 MPH at least.  David Henderson once said about a pitch like this:  "Wow, too tough to even bunt."

Pitch 2:  Patented Felix yellow hammer, outside on the black.

Textbook location so that the bat will be out in front as it passes through the strike zone.  Of course, Green wasn't able to swing anyway.  Felix Hernandez / Pedro Martinez / Mike Mussina "drop balls" like this are far more deadly because of their velocity than because of their break as such.

Pitch 3:  Patented Felix dry spitball, starting in the zone and dropping below the knees.

It's precisely this location that makes the "broken pitch," as they say in the video playtesting rooms.

Dr's Diagnosis.

None of these pitches can be squared up, even if telegraphed.  Supposing you were in a state of total confusion as to which was going to occur?

This, gentlemen, is the Felix Hernandez who rips off 35 mega quality starts in a row.

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Grant Green, IP 5

The previous at-bat had not offered Mr. Green any more pleasure:

Felix delivered the first pitch curve ball with 'elan, dragging the right foot high and falling off the mound as he threw.  As a matter of fact, this was his pitch distribution:

• 28 Fastballs
• 41 Yakkers
• 28 Dry Spitters

That's an unheard-of ratio of breaking pitches - yet Felix' vicious 93 fastball was established from first pitch to last.

.....

Notice on BOTH of the next two pitches, they were dry spitters that (1) started thigh-high and (2) rolled off the table to break out of the zone.

Felix' command was back, he had the bite back on his pitches, and it wouldn't have mattered who was batting.   Angels A, Angels B, or the Big Red Machine.

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Grant Green, IP 2

We're sure that Green had wiped this one from his memory, a la Matrix, but there's no reason we have to:

The King had set up the entire evening with a "yakker sandwich".  That's called meta-pitchability, the use of one at-bat to create devastation in all the rest of them :- )

• First two pitches = blazing fastballs.  At knees, then on black
• Yakker
• Last two pitches:  Fastball/spitter, followed by fastball/nonspitter up the ladder.  Froze him

When Felix is right, he gets plenty of called K's by zipping fastballs by hitters who are scared spitless of the breaking pitches.  Here's an example.

With 2 strikes, Felix can:

• Throw the spitter to break below the knees (garbage swing)
• Hump up and throw a low-outside fastball right by passive hitters
• Toss a yakker in for a "gimme strikeout"
• Do lots of other things (such as a pitch breaking in onto the knees)

He was back to doing it.  Y' feel me?

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"Cy Young Shares"

Felix is 25th all time in these, and already 5th among active pitchers (Santana, Kershaw, Verlander, Sabathia).

The HOW of this stat is:  Felix got 56% of the vote one year, 85% another, 21% in a third year, and 3% in another.  That adds up to 166%, meaning he's got 1.66 "shares" of perfect Cy Young victories.

The WHY of this stat -- another Bill James invention -- is to get a feel for how DOMINANT a historical pitcher was perceived to be, in his generation.  Bob Gibson, obviously a terrifying pitcher, "only" got 2.04 shares during his storied career.  (That's good for #14 on the list.)

Jimmie Foxx had 4.22 MVP shares, despite playing in an era with Ruth, Gehrig, and DiMaggio.  He wasn't just a guy with glitzy stats; he was regarded a colossus of the game by his peers.

If Felix gets, say, 60% of the vote this year, he'll be at about 2.25 shares.  That will move him past HALF of the guys in front of him on the career list, to #12.

At age 28.

...

Felix Hernandez is a crackin' #2 starter for the All-21st Century Team.  Funny thing is, he makes a crackin' #2 starter for our club too.  What's past King?  Is it Dictator, or Emperor, or Shah?

King Felix and All-Father Paxton, then.

Be Afraid.  Be Very Afraid,

Dr D