Big Unit vs. King Felix

wordygurdy · **Posted:** Sat Aug 27, 2005 12:15 am

Wednesday evening, if no weather calamities befall either Seattle's or New York's rotation from now till then.

Should be interesting if the Unit is on his game in his old stomping grounds.

wordygurdy · **Posted:** Wed Aug 31, 2005 11:48 pm

The matchup was pretty much as advertised. That was your basic game of country hardball: two pitchers throwing gas, two solid hits accounting for the only runs and both teams playing great defense in a little over 2:30, an amazingly short length for an American League game.

Hernandez looks pretty darn good out there. He'll bust you inside with a 97-mph heater and then uncork a curve in almost the same spot at 85 mph. I didn't see any hangers, though, which is key. Both Yank homers were off fastballs, I'm pretty sure. And Hernandez has the strut down too after he strikes someone out--confident but not cocky, a la K-Rod.

Mariner fans are pretty lucky to have him! And to think he's only 19.

ADKbrown · **Posted:** Thu Sep 01, 2005 8:22 am

In Johnson, Hernandez drew an opponent who was 22 years, 210 days older. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the largest difference in age between opposing starters since a 1994 match-up between Florida's Charlie Hough, then 46, and San Diego's Joey Hamilton, then 22. -- NYT

Wabberjocky · **Posted:** Thu Sep 01, 2005 5:30 pm

What a game to attend in person! Great energy at Safeco.

Well, thatâ€™s what a bad King Felix start looks like. Ill control, weird pitch selection, hassled by inconsistent umpiring. I donâ€™t particularly care if you want to call a wide or a small strike zone, though Iâ€™d like to see someone call the rulebook strike zone onceâ€¦ but if someone puts the same pitch in the same spot three times, it should be called either a ball or a strike each time. Nobodyâ€™s happy if down-and-in is randomly a strike.

Anyway, the unhappy totals:

15 ground balls, 2 fly balls. 7 strikeouts, 4 walks, 2 home runs. I've spoken before about how every long-term successful pitcher keeps the ball out of the air. There is no great pitcher in baseball history who gave up more fly balls than groundballs. Not even close, ratio-wise.

In other words, thatâ€™s pretty sweet.

So basically, Bad Felix equals most Good Anybody Else. I'll take it. And about 20 more seasons just like it.

Not to slight Randy, who clearly still has it when he's locked on course. And it's such a visual, visceral pleasure to watch him wheel and deal in that great lopsided corkscrew motion of his. I'm not sure he'll get to 300 wins, but hopefully there's not one voter out there dumb enough to think that artificial standard should stand between the Unit and a first-ball Hall of Fame induction.

wordygurdy · **Posted:** Sat Sep 17, 2005 1:41 pm

Looks as if the King might have to make some adjustments in response to the insolent actions of his lieges lately, huh, Wabber? His past few starts have been a bit rough.

But he's only 19 and thus has plenty of time to make the changes that nearly every pitcher has to make in response to hitters' adjusting to him.

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