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With two out and the bases empty in the second inning Monday, the left handed Ryan Doumit (.285/.333/.466, a 118 OPS+ this year, a 130 OPS+ last year) came to bat against Felix Hernandez.

John Jaso, who has now caught 7 of Felix' last 8 starts, called for a first-pitch fastball on the outside edge of the plate.  I replayed it several times; Jaso did not move his glove even one (1) inch to catch Felix' 93 MPH fastball.  It literally was not possible for Jaso's glove to remain more stationary than it did.  Doumit did not arrive at a 118 OPS+ by swinging at first-pitch, 0-0 fastballs two inches outside the plate, so Felix' 0-1 count was "automatic."

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On the second pitch, Jaso called for an overhand curve ball, which Felix threw "back door" at 81 MPH.  The pitch started outside the strike zone and broke very sharply onto the outside one-fourth of the plate.  Doumit swung (1) well out in front and (2) well over the top of the diving pitch, at least six inches over it.  He did not "freeze" or buckle -- left hand hitters don't buckle on back door curves -- but he was out in front as if the pitch were a deadfish changeup.

On the third pitch, Jaso rejected the idea of an 0-2 "waste pitch," and doubled up the curve ball.  Felix "buried" the pitch, aiming it to begin as though it were heading for the strike zone, and then intending for it to break down out of the zone.  Doumit was fooled worse on the second curve than the first one, in part because he was "forced" with two strikes.  He swung farther out in front, and missed the pitch by a wider margin.  In fact Doumit swung as far out in front as you ever see an ML hitter do.  

Jaso smothered the ball in the dirt and then casually tagged Doumit out while leaning back towards the dugout.  Felix' tempo, the entire three-pitch, was brisk and bored, as though he were taking free throws in garbage time of a 118-79 basketball game.

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=== I Double-Dog Dare You, Dept. ===

A couple of facts about this at-bat:

Right hand pitchers are supposed to throw sliders and curves to right hand batters, but changeups to left hand batters.  You might recall last March that Michael Pineda was "forbidden" by cyber scouts to start the year in the majors, because he had no changeup with which to battle left hand batters.  There are exceptions to this generalizations, as people learned, and these exceptions include Felix and Pineda.  But do bear in mind the fact that it is much harder to use breaking pitches when the matchup is RHP-vs-LHB.   Not impossible, not absolute in any way, but harder.

Doumit, by the way, has big numbers against RHP's and a major dropoff against LHP's.  This year he's hitting .300/.350/.500 against RHP's.

A pitcher is playing with fire when "doubling up" any offspeed pitch to a batter.  The "shock" to the hitters' eyes is the main advantage to a pitch that is less than fast.  ML hitters will confirm that it is not the break on a pitch that gives them trouble; it is adjusting to the speed.  On the second straight offspeed pitch, there is no speed adjustment.

I didn't remember the last time I saw a RHP double up a slow curve to a LH batter, much less induce such a garbage swing on the second one.  This got me to wondering, "Does Felix have the best curve in baseball?"  And what we found would ... um, will ... make an article in itself :- )  

Till then, here's a great Fangraphs article on the subject.  Their approach, in my opinion, is not very convincing, but the article is a great read.  The actual best curves among SP's, it says here, are thrown by Burnett, Beckett, Verlander, Strasburg, Kershaw*, Sabathia* and Felix.  Which is the very best of these is an interesting, but not very important, question.  Gio Gonzalez*, David Price*, Jered Weaver, Adam Wainwright, and, yes, Doug Fister are in the next tier from where SSI stands, er, loiters.

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=== The Curve's Place in Felix' Arsenal ===

Whether Felix has the very best curve in baseball is one question.  A weightier question is this one:  "Does Felix have the best offspeed arsenal ... in baseball history?"  And the burden of proof is on you:  you'll have to prove to me that he does not.

Pedro had two Plus-Plus-Plus offspeed pitches:  his curve and change were both ranked 80 by scouts.  Would you rather have that, or rather have three pitches ranked 70-80?  Hmmm.

David Cone had four Plus offspeed pitches, four of them at least 60, and one of them 70-80.  Is that preferable?  In his prime in Japan, Dice-K probably had the same.

Randy Johnson had a Frisbee power slider that ranked "better than 80."  :- )  Would you rather have that single pitch, or Felix' curve, "changeup" dry spitter, and slider?  Hmmm.

There's one pitcher I've ever seen, besides Felix, who had three different wipeout breaking pitches.  That being Justin Verlander, who is contemporary with Felix; Verlander only throws 49% fastballs and cutters, despite having probably the best heater (velo, location, angle and stamina) in the world.  ... This 4-great-pitch group may soon include Doug Fister.

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Another important question:  what makes a great curve ball?  Is it the arm action?  Would you rather have a pitcher who can locate it, like Orel Hershiser, or one whose arm action buckles a hitter's knees, like Aaron Sele?  Should it tilt on two planes, like Felix' does, or should it drop straight down, like Beckett's?  Which of history's yellow hammers would you prefer to throw, if it were you?

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The important thing is this.  Felix needs to throw his curve ball more.  It is the one pitch he throws that is not in the 85-94 MPH band of velocity, the one pitch that stretches the strike zone back to front.

He had been throwing it only 10-12% in the first half.  But he threw his overhand curve 24 times in the perfecto, 20 for strikes, 18 not in play, 10 for whiffs.  He threw it 22 times Monday, in his 1-0 shutout.  With Jaso at the helm, let's stretch that zone along the z-axis.