Felix struggles again

Last night we saw Felix have a tough night against an A's team that has struggled to hit for much of the season. After watching him in person last week, and seeing him last night, there are a few things that stand out.

First of all, he clearly does not have the overpowering fastball he had last summer. He can crank it up to 97 when he really needs to, but most of his fastballs are in the 95 mph range. And as Thornton or Putz will tell you, 95 is not going to be a big deal to many major league hitters.

Second, he also has problems consistently locating that pitch. He often throws a fastball that has a hard, almost slider like drop to it that is not finding the strike zone. He then mixes it up with a straight fastball that looks like a big meatball catching the majority of the plate. Without being able to spot his fastball with any consistency, he can't get anyone out with that pitch.

Finally, he is obviously throwing a lot of fastballs. Earlier in the year he was throwing more off speed stuff, and everyone yelled for more fastballs. Now he seems to be taking it to the other extreme... too many fastballs and the opponent doesn't fear the breaking stuff, knowing the fastball is coming again.

So we have fastballs that aren't that fast, aren't being spotted properly and are being thrown too often.

The game plan is out on Felix. Sit and wait for fastballs. Let's see what Hargrove and his staff does to fix it.