In his last 10 starts Felix Hernandez has been nothing short of brilliant, giving up no earned runs in five of those outings and one earned run in four other games during that stretch.
He went eight innings in half of the starts, and if the Mariners didn't hit like the Bad News Bears, Hernandez would win the AL Cy Young award this year by a landslide.
Blame it on bad luck, mismanagement by the front office, or unfortunate timing, but Felix deserves better. He is the best pitcher in baseball right now, and all the attention has been focused on CC Sabathia and David Price.
Perhaps this is because the Yankees and the Rays are in a slugfest for the best record in baseball. Perhaps this is because Felix plays for a miserable Mariners team.
In my opinion this is just another case of the East Coast bias rearing its ugly head.
Felix pitches in Seattle, which is geographically isolated. There are no major markets between Seattle and San Francisco (these two cities are 800 miles apart), so the Mariners get very little exposure and media coverage.
CC Sabathia pitches for the most storied franchise in professional sports and the media capital of the world, while David Price plays for a team that is considered a fly in the ointment and a source of irritation for the Bronx Bombers.
Seattle will never compare to New York in the amount of attention it receives, nor should it. New York is 18 times bigger with transplants all over the country and an unrivaled fanbase. However, those facts shouldn't overshadow the season Felix has put together. Felix should be acknowledged for his pitching dominance without bias.
In the end I think his body of work speaks for itself, and he's made a stronger case for the Cy Young Award than anyone else, but he does pitch in Seattle, WA. We'll see if the sports writers overlook that fact and do the right thing. Good luck Felix.
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