King Felix continuing to look good for the Atlanta Braves

Is your King Felix cup half empty or half full? That’s the question after his second outing of the Spring for the Atlanta Braves.

On a day with the wind blowing in and the Atlanta Braves offense facing Jack Flaherty and the Cardinals, Felix Hernandez continued his march toward the fifth starter role.

We are now less than a month away from the start of the regular season, and while all sample sizes are small, Hernandez can’t really be said to have hurt his cause.

Last Saturday, Hernandez threw 2 innings against a Baltimore Orioles club that truly had no recognizable names in the lineup. They managed only a single base-runner (via a walk) against the man/myth/legend as he recorded 2 strikeouts besides.

Today was more of a test… somewhat… as St. Louis brought a road squad across the peninsula to face Atlanta.

Hernandez was lifted after 2 outs in the 3rd inning – by apparent plan – having yielded a single run on 3 hits, walking none and striking out 4.

The hits came to consecutive batters after two outs had been recorded in the first. One was a shift-beater, another was just inside the third base line and went for a double.

Bad luck? Perhaps. But not-so-ancient former Mariner did right his ship and set down all of the last six batters he faced.

My King Beats Your Ace?

As for the offense… well, it was Jack Flaherty they faced, though both Marcel Ozuna (ironically getting Spring reps against his former team’s ace) and Austin Riley both just missed possible homers as that wind seemed to work against them.

Still, both Yonder Alonso and Tyler Flowers worked rare walks and then Alonso was scored on a liner to center by Yangervis Solarte, tying the game.  So perhaps it was Flaherty who was not as sharp as expected thus far.

In the 3rd inning, Nick Markakis ripped a double – of course – to right against Flaherty, which ended the day for both players: Flaherty being relieved and Markakis being replaced by a pinch-runner.

Health note:  Adeiny Hechavarria was a late scratch from the lineup… appears to be another ‘precaution’ thing, though it involved his left oblique.

Back to the Throne

But for Hernandez, he’s looking sharp enough and he still has his patented command. When it comes down to it, your team’s fifth starter needs to do only a couple of things: pitch enough innings and do so while keeping your team in the ballgame.

At this point, that’s exactly what Hernandez is doing. He may not necessary have shutdown stuff, but he is getting batters out and (mostly) keeping the ball on the ground.

The Atlanta Braves could certainly do a lot worse. If he makes the team, that could buy some more time for some kids to get themselves ready at Gwinnett.