Serious Mariner fans know that Felix Hernandez usually owns the Yankees, and for some reason especially owns them in Yankee stadium. These same fans also know that CC Sabathia typically mows down the Mariners anemic offense with ease. CC did just that on Friday night, and maybe Felix felt like he had to answer. Whatever he thought prior to Saturday's 1-0 Mariner win, his complete game two-hit shutout in Yankee Stadium shot him to the top of the Cy Young race.
That statement might not shock the casual baseball observer, but think back to June 12. Felix had just dropped a start to the San Diego Padres, giving up five runs on nine hits in just six innings. In the two starts before that, he only went five innings in a no decision against the White Sox and allowed five runs in a loss to the Angels. Felix was 4-5 with a 3.70 ERA. His velocity was down, and many people thought he was hurt.
That San Diego game woke Felix up. He told the media in the days following his third consecutive bad start that he "hated" pitching like he had been. Felix was tired of not being the dominant ace he was so used to being. He decided to regain his throne and take over his team and the league again.
In the ten starts since the San Diego loss, Felix is 6-0 with an ERA of 1.41. His ERA dropped over a full point, from 3.70 to 2.63. He has 75 strikeouts in 76.1 innings in that stretch. His fastball touched 95, back up from the 91 and 92 he started out the season throwing. He has thrown three complete game shutouts in those ten starts. He allowed more than one earned run in a start just three times since the Padres game. He has been nothing short of royal.
With all that in mind, Felix Hernandez is officially a Cy Young Candidate in 2012.
The number speak for themselves. 10-5 with a 2.63 ERA. His 159 strikeouts in 164 innings leads major league baseball. He sits in the top five in WAR (wins above replacement, a metric that's supposed to be the best indicator of how valuable a player is) among pitchers, which is fine, since he isn't helped by the fact that his team loses a lot even when he pitches. He even has a positive win-loss record this time around. Why couldn't Felix take this to the end of the season and bring home more hardware for the Mariners?
Well, there's always that start to the season that may haunt him. Felix had some real head scratching starts in the month of May this year. In Cleveland on May 16, he didn't even make it out of the fourth inning. He allowed eight runs in that start, and six of them were earned. That was not a very happy Felix Day. He lost a game in Yankee Stadium on May 11 that he could have won, were it not for a three run homer by Raul Ibanez. But even before that homer, he had allowed 10 hits, and didn't have his best stuff. Many Mariner fans thought that the King had lost what earned him his crown in the first place.
But has any pitcher in baseball been better since June 12? Felix's velocity came back, and he continued to perfect his incredible changeup, which may be the best pitch in the game today. That pitch is just nasty. As Brendan Ryan said postgame Saturday, Felix's change "defies science." That change is the reason Felix leads the MLB in strikeouts, and the reason, in the midst of another Mariner losing season, that Felix can bring home another Cy in November.
He only has 9 or 10 starts left in 2012 at most, so he must make the most of his opportunities from here on out. But if he ends up 15-7 with an ERA at 2.40 and the MLB lead in strikeouts, Can the MLB deny the King his second pitching crown? Probably not. Go M's.
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