Felix Not Coming Up Aces in the 7th

The last time the Mariners' ace (?) reached the 7th inning was mid-June. John McLaren was the manager. 

Should we be worried?

Only if you want to see Hernandez to be the staff ace. He hasn't surrendered more than 3 earned runs in an outing since late May. That is ace-list material. His pitch count has lengthened, tallying 109 in a 3-1 loss to the Orioles Saturday night. Aces might go a bit longer, but that is at least on the right side of Erik Bedard's self-regulated 100 pitches no matter what the score or situation. 

But not getting into the 7th, that is Carlos Silva territory (Hmm, well, check that. Silva just notched 117 pitches while leaving the Sunday game vs. Baltimore in the top of the 7th, two outs, of a 4-4 tie). Jarod Washburn, who should have been traded by July 31 and promptly pitched his worst game in months on Aug. 1, has been much more able to reach the 7th and sometimes beyond this summer. Falling short of Washburn in any positive pitching category doesn't make you an ace.

Hernandez, to his credit, was unhappy during post-game interviews. That's aces. Strange twist, though. The King said he was having trouble getting his cutter fastball over the plate, which he likes to do early in the count to set up hitters for a wicked third-strike curve. While the cutter splayed, the curve was laser-sharp. Maybe an ace figures out how to try a different pattern, especially during a 37-pitch first inning that doomed Hernandez' to a sixth straight start without appearing in the 7th.

But it's all relative. Hernandez is still by far the No. 1 reason to watch the M's, though fans are going to keep liking what they see from Bryan LaHair and every M's diehard will be close by when Brandon Morrow gets a start or two in September.

BIRD-WATCHING: As Erik Bedard still squanders the season with soft tosses and long recoveries, George Sherrill warmed up last night with 30 saves already deposited with MLB. Sherrill is still an Oriole and happy about it. Adam Jones banged out three hits–his second half is torrid so far–and, perhaps even more happily for Baltimore Jones has looked comfortable and confident in CF the last two nights. I don't even want to look to see how that live-armed minor league pitcher is doing.