Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners has been the most dominating pitcher since the All Star break. In that span he is a perfect 7-0 with a 1.23 ERA, 56 K, 0.68 WHIP in 73.0 IP over 9 games. Four of those victories where complete game shut outs giving him five on the season. Three of those games were 1-0 pitching duels where he took it to another level including the perfect game against the Rays on August 15.
The opposing pitchers in those 1-0 games brought their A games only to fall short against King Felix. On August 4th Hiroki Kuroda of the Yankees had a strong line 6.1 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K only to be outdone by Hernandez who had 9.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K. In the perfect game on August 15 Jeremy Hellickson had a line of 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K while Hernandez set the platinum standard with 9.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 12 K. On August 27 Liam Hendriks of the Twins easily had his best effort of the year going 9.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K but Hernandez won the duel with 9.0 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K.
Hernandez has proven that he doesn't need much run support to get the victory. The Mariners as a team are the fourth winningest since the All Star break. If they are able to stay hot that should help Hernandez get a few extra wins too. Another Cy Young should be waiting for him after the season.
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