CLAY MOYLE AND SON CALEB
For as long as I can remember, 20 wins in a single season has been held up as a mark of excellence for a major league pitcher. In his classic book, “Ball Four”, former Seattle Pilot pitcher Jim Bouton said, “if there was a pill that could guarantee you would win 20 games but would take five years off of your life, players would take it.”
Little did Bouton know, something like that would come along that pitchers and hitters alike would elect to use.
The Mariners have only had two pitchers accomplish the feat to date in their 37-year history. The first of those was Randy Johnson, who posted a record of 20-4 in 1997. The other was Jamie Moyer, who turned the trick twice, going 20-6 in 2001, the year the Mariners won a major league regular season record 116-games, and then won 21 in 2003. Both played for pretty darn good offensive teams.
FELIX HERNANDEZ
Meanwhile, Felix Hernandez, a.k.a. “The King” is in the middle of his 10th season as a Seattle Mariner and I’m wondering if the poor guy will ever get enough run support to win that many in a single season himself.
The closest he’s come so far was back in 2009 when he went 19-5 while posting an ERA of 2.49. He actually had a better ERA the following year, 2.27 in 2010, but finished with a record of 13-12 when the Mariner offense was either shut out or limited to one run in 10 of his starts that season!
Hernandez is in the midst of a remarkable season during which he’s presently leading the American League with an earned run average of only 2.01, and is second in strikeouts. He just recently set a major league record by giving up two or less runs in 14 consecutive games in which he pitched at least seven or more innings.
But, wouldn’t you know it, since Felix pitches for the woefully impotent Mariners he only rang up seven wins during that record-breaking 14-game streak. The other seven games that he gave up two or fewer runs resulted in two losses and five no-decisions on his ledger.
So, here we are on August 4 and Felix finds himself with a record of 11-3, while he could easily have as many as 16-17 victories if he’d received some decent run support.
Sadly, the Mariners have already played 111 games and Felix will probably receive no more than 10 more starts. Once again, it appears inevitable that despite another outstanding performance he’ll fall well short of a 20-win season.
As much as I enjoy watching “The King” play for the Mariners, there’s a part of me that feels as though he deserves better and would like to see him get an opportunity to pitch for a team with a better offense.
Hopefully, the Mariners will become that team one of these years and we’ll get a chance to see him reach the 20-game win mark in a Seattle uniform.