Blog Gets Through To Felix Hernandez

If you've watched any Felix Hernandez starts prior to today, you probably noticed a pattern.  He tries to establish his fastball early on, throwing the pitch constantly.  His heater is a fine pitch and plenty fast, but he leaves it up in the zone sometimes.  And a 96 mph fastball can be easy to hit when you see ten of them in a row (relatively speaking - obviously I still couldn't hit it).  Hernandez has an amazing offspeed repertoire, especially his curveball.

The die-hard fans at U.S.S. Mariner have been painfully aware of this trend for quite some time.  Frustration boiled over on June 27th, when Dave Cameron wrote a post: An Open Letter To Rafael Chaves.  Chaves is the Mariners' pitching coach.  The letter pleaded for Chaves to make Felix mix up his pitches early on.   

Cameron probably never anticipated that Chaves would actually read the letter.  But he did, and the pitching coach actually gave a copy to Felix for him to read.  Chaves has been trying to hammer this point home with Hernandez, but the letter helped reinforce the need for better pitch selection.  Hernandez tossed eight scoreless innings today, crediting the letter for his early success.  How cool is that?  Blogs actually can make a difference.  Open sentence to Dave Cameron: Mariners fans, fantasy baseball owners, and baseball fans in general thank you for getting through to The King.  Next up, teach Rich Hill a third pitch.

Comments

[Guitar Hero]

That is very cool. Ussmariner is a very good blog so no wonder they got through to him. I wish the smart stuff on blogs were heard by GM's more often.

[Zonis]

This is bullshit. No way he should have listen to such dribble. He should have kept on doing what he'd been doing, it had worked before, right?

Or at least, he should have done it starting after the all star break god damnit!

[ArodSucksAtLife]

Now if only my postings of Jose Reyes for Julio Lugo, and Miguel Cabrera for Kason Gabbard, can get through to the Mets and the Marlins.

[bcaine]

I agree about the part about Rich Hill. He's got a fastball and a damn good curveball , when he can throw it for a strike. Thats why hes been so shitty the past month and half. Rich Hill if youre reading this I would come up with a third pitch quick , or I hear the weather in Iowa is lovely these days . GO CUBBIES!!!!!

[Doctor Lingerie]

Love that. There aren't but a few team blogs that rival USS Mariner, and those poor bastards have been harping about Felix throwing the fastball for at least a couple years.

In fact, I recall you linking to them at the beginning of '06 for this exact proposition, Tim. If only they could get through to Bavasi about Vidro and Guillen...

[ArodSucksAtLife]

Open Letter to Bavasi:

You are a terrible GM, the end.

[nrmax88]

Off topic, but Carlos Beltran just made one of the best catches probably ever. A play you will be seeing for years and years. Just unreal. Going backwards to the top of the hill in houston facing the centerfield wall, falling down basket catch in the bottom of the 14th with the winning run on third.

[nrmax88]

And this is a cool thread to. The kid who wrote the letter probably feels like the man. Seattle is one of the nice stories this year.

[Boylanca]

King felix has the NASTIEST stuff in baseball PERIOD. Him and oswalt.

Anyone remember Major League baseball featuring Ken Griffey Jr?

Check out the site

www.freewebs.com/mlbfeaturingkgj

post on the forum, leave a guestbook comment, looking to revive the best baseball game ever.

[Astro Fan in NYC]

Maybe I should write a blog to Phil Garner titled, "How to manage a team"