The McGee family took a spur-of-the-moment trip to Seattle last weekend to watch the Mariners play the Indians. We hadn’t been to a game all summer, so that was part of the attraction. But seriously, if not for the fact that Felix Hernandez was pitching, I wouldn’t even have suggested it at the last minute. (Let’s face it: The Mariners are miserable and he’s one of the few guys on the team worth watching.)
So we want and had a great time. And Felix was Felix. He dominated the Indians, just like he’s dominated most teams this year. There’s no question in my mind that dude is…
Everybody’s talking about Felix’s chances of winning the Cy Young Award. It was pretty much the only thing they talked about on the postgame show as we were leaving Seattle. The Mariners broadcast team has been talking about it for a month or two already, and now there’s starting to be a lot more chatter on the national level, too. I heard a conversation on Sunday Night Baseball while we were in the car driving home. I’ve heard them talk about it on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight.
Slowly but surely, a lot of people are starting to realize that Felix deserves the Cy Young despite his 11-10 record. A .500 pitcher winning the Cy Young is pretty much unheard of, and no one with less than 15 wins has ever won. But check out this article on ESPN.com talking about Felix being the deserving Cy Young despite the won-loss record:
“…what King Felix’s advocates have to persuade voters to do is ignore wins more than ever and value things like this: After Sunday’s win, Hernandez ranked first in the AL in innings pitched (219.1), strikeouts (209) and quality starts (27) and he was tied for first in number of starts (30). He was second in ERA (2.30) and third in opponents’ batting average (.219). Still not impressed? The more advanced argument is Hernandez either leads or sits at the top among AL starters in every meaningful sabermetric pitching stat too: first in WAR for pitchers (5.7), first in +WPA (16.67), first in Adjusted Pitching Wins (4.3), first in opponent OPS (.597), second in Adjusted ERA+ (176), third in FIP (2.96), third in xFIP (3.25), third in WHIP (1.09).
The Mariners, by far the worst offensive team in the league, are averaging 3.32 runs per game for Hernandez, the second-worst support any AL starter has gotten. In his 10 losses, they’ve scored just 10 runs. Sabathia, on the other hand, has had 24 starts in which the Yankees scored four or more runs, and 18 of his 19 wins came in those games, plus one loss and five no decisions.”
On a contender, Felix would be about 20-3 this year and a lock to win the Cy Young. Here’s hoping the voters don’t penalize him for the fact that the Mariners have no offense.
By the way, we had amazing seats last Sunday — 12th row behind home plate on the Mariners’ side. Here are my photos.
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