=== Velocity ===

A thought was floated, advertising that Felix' velocity is back.  Nay verily.  You can't interpret this chart that way.  If you want to understand Felix' summer rocket ride at red line, look not to the radar gun.  Felix' effectiveness, we've beheld, has little fellowship with his speed.

In 2010, and every year prior, Felix' fastball averaged - averaged! - 94.0 MPH or better.  Take a second and review the (MPH) figures on this chart.  Then last year, in 2011, he faded to 93.3 MPH average, which was still smokin' hot - he ranked 13th in all the majors for average fastball velo.  By the way, did you notice that the top 8 were all in the American League?  You went through Ogando, Verlander, Price, Morrow, Sabathia, etc etc until you finally got down to Clayton Kershaw and Matt Garza.  Slap me silly.

So Felix was at 93.3 and trending down in 2011.  He reported to camp skinny, and by his 4th start of 2012 he could barely hit 91-92 on the gun.  Dr. Grumpy gingerly proposed that maybe the lean body mass, or the stamina, had been sapped by the weight loss, and if so, the velo would gradually rebound some.

That's exactly what happened.  The green dots on this chart show an upward angle of close to 10 degrees.  Last night, he was back up to 92.5 MPH on his fastball.  The story isn't that Felix hits 93-96 like he used to; the story is that there is nothing Pineda-like going on in his shoulder.  Rejoice before the high-def TV, ye faithful.

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=== Movement ===

On June 12th, the Padres roughed up Felix for five runs, and this capped an ugly little stretch in which Felix got K.O.'ed three times in four starts - unprecedented for him going back many years.  What was goin' on?

On June 17th, though, he pole-axed the Giants, and in the return match with San Diego he murdered them most foully.  The bloodbath included 1 walk, 10 strikeouts, and one National League lineup that hadn't been able to get to its cell phone in time to make the 911 call.

The start after:  a 0-run, 13-whiff immolation of ... the Boston Red Sox.  (On TV they pointed out that Felix' three shutouts this year have been of Texas, Boston, and New York.  Somebody get this guy a World Series, can'cha.)  After that game, Adrian Gonzalez confirmed the real secret to Felix' Godzilla stomp:  "his fastball is usually straight, but tonight it was cutting."  

For some reason, the Seattle blog-o-sphere has resisted believing this, and Dr. D would appreciate it if somebody would explain to him why.  You would think that the shiny new Mariano Rivera action on his four-seamer -- rising, and swerving in gloveside, but thrown even harder than Rivera's -- would be thrilling news.  And it has coincided with Felix' return to being the very best pitcher in baseball.  No, the has not coincided with that; it has been the cause of that.  You're talking about a weapon that is repeatable.

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=== Wallowing in Glory, Dept. ===

Bonus round for reading this far:  last night, Felix threw a few cutters that clocked 95 MPH.  That, Brendan, is what defies science.  You don't get your fingers all the way behind a cut fastball to drive it properly.

Here is a very cool B-Ref.com functionality that sums any subset of games for yer.  Felix the last 11 games:  6-0, 1.73 with 78 whiffs, 15 walks and 2 (!!) home runs in 83 innings.  The slugging average against him is .235 the last ... wait for it ... one third of the season!  

Take this with you dept:  Felix' fly balls are way, way up as he assumes his rightful Pedro Martinez incarnation.  I got your "pitching to contact" right here, pokey.

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=== Angels 6, Mariners 5 ===

Last night, Felix was gassed after his 9-inning shutout of the Yankees the start prior.  Here, check his velocity trend on the game.  It is a tribute to the blinding sun that is Felix Hernandez, that few people realized that his arm felt like jell-O going into the game.

Felix would have had another easy win, except for (1) a cheap scramble rally in the 5th - involving a blown strike call / walk following a seeing-eye single - and (2) the amazing Mike Trout.

The takeaway, for me:  in 104 pitches, Felix threw only nine (9) two-seam fastballs.  Unbelievable.  He threw 48 cutters, nine arm-side-run fastballs, and 47 offspeed pitches.

I don't know how Felix throws a "changeup" that rotates forward and travels 90 MPH.  I also don't know how he throws a cut fastball - fingers on the side of it - harder than he throws a real fastball, fingers behind it.

But we've been wondering on the Rivera cutter since May 1, when Felix broke it out of dry dock and sailed 13 of them.  Since then, he's thrown it more and more, and now here he is throwing 50 cutters a game.  The cutters are up in the zone, they are swingthrough pitches, and they set up breaking balls for strikeouts.  It is precisely the fact that Felix' fastball is scary again, that has made him the 8th wonder of the world again.

The last 11 games, Felix has been the Pedro Martinez-style juggernaut that SSI has always clamored for him to be.

Closure,

Dr D