Does Felix Hernandez look as good as he did last season?Felix Hernandez opened up his 2011 season with a complete game victory over the Oakland A's last night. Now we all know that Felix Hernandez won the Cy Young Award last season, even though he only won 13 games. This upset me, and here is why. It wasn't that he only won 13 games because I understand that the Mariners had an offense that would be mediocre at the college level. But he lost 12 games. That means that he was out-pitched 12 times by the opposing pitcher. In some of those games he pitched great, and he was a hard luck loser. But in 8 of his 12 losses he allowed 3 earned runs or more. He also went seven straight outings in which his team lost from late April through May. Hernandez was outstanding last season, but he did not deserve the Cy Young award because he was not the most valuable pitcher in the American League. He did not lead the Mariners to many victories and if he was that outstanding his Mariners would have been better than 1 game over .500 in games he pitched and he would have lost less than 12 games.
But last year is in the past. It's about this season now and Felix Hernandez looks just as strong as he did late last season. After giving up a first inning home run to Josh Willingham, he pitched 8 straight scoreless innings to lead the Mariners to victory. I was surprised the Mariners scored 5 runs and if they can average even half of that than Hernandez might be collecting his second straight Cy Young award. He is too strong: his fastball is lethal, his breaking balls are nasty and his accuracy his spot on. I hope Felix Hernandez has an even better year than he did last season so I can have no problem with him winning the Cy Young award. I know it's only his first outing, but barring any injuries, Felix Hernandez will be 18-8 this season with a stellar ERA and win his second straight Cy Young. But please Seattle, score enough runs for Hernandez so he doesn't win the Cy Young with a 9-12 record. Come on Seattle!
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