g152 | where for art thou runs? and, another 200-hit season

Mariners 0 | Blue Jays 1

Once again, Felix pitches his ever-lovin' heart out and has nothing to show for it except more innings pitched and a lower ERA (which actually serve to elevate his CY contention).  He allowed ONE run (a solo shot to the major league leader in home runs) and TWO hits over EIGHT innings.  What more can he do?!?

I'm thinking the powers that be should just stop recording wins and losses for pitchers....  
I mean, it's always been a bit of a crazy stat anyway - to earn a "decision" must pitch at least five innings in order to get the win or 'be on the hook' for the loss ... blah, blah, blah

Obviously, wins are THE stat for a TEAM... 
winning is really all that matters to a team.  But why is it that a pitcher needs to have a win/loss record as well, when so much of what goes into a win is beyond his control?

But what a pitcher CAN control, if he is worth his salt at all is...
(like a certain Venezuelan we all know, who is not only worth his salt, but he's worth the entire salt mine)
~ how many earned runs he gives up
~ how many strikeouts he racks up
~ how many quality starts he records
Felix is A # 1 in all those categories
(and yeah, and he fields his position pretty darn well too) 

Some have made the argument that because he's on a losing team, he doesn't pitch under pressure...
I would contend, that for a competitor like Felix, it is actually HARDER to pitch with nothing on the line. What motivation does he have (aside from pride in his personal performance) to pitch lights out as he does nearly EVERY time he goes out there? ... when deep down he knows it's highly unlikely his team will score enough runs for the victory. BTW ~ in his 12 losses, the M's have scored a total of 14 runs

Others have suggested that because he pitches against inferior competition, his stats aren't worth as much...
Yet he has pitched in more games against teams with .500 or better records than CC has.  And, his ERA is more than a full point lower in those games.
Larry Stone goes through all the stats here and mentions some national attention that Felix is getting for the CY race, despite his lack of wins...


And then there's Ichiro....
First player in MLB HISTORY to record TEN straight seasons with 200+ hits ~ simply amazing.

AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Frank Gunn

Man, do Felix and Ichiro deserve SO much better...