As my wife and I had a sushi date here in Seattle, the Battle of Japan was going on at Fenway Park in Boston. Ichiro and Dice-K meeting up for the first time in the majors. There was a lot of hype going into this game. The whole Ichiro-Dice-K angle, Felix Hernandez vs. Dice-K angle, and of course Dice-K vs. Kenji Jojhima (well maybe not the last one).

It turns out that the biggest story of the night was King Felix tossing a complete game one-hitter. His bid no-hitter was broken up in the 8th inning when J.D. Drew singled softly to center. This would have been the first no-hitter for the Mariners since the great Chris Bosio’s no-no on April 22, 1993, against these same Boston Red Sox in Boston.
Felix Hernandez has definitely had his share of hype. Well, I guess his nickname (King Felix) should give you a hint as to the expectations placed on this guy. After a promising rookie campaign, he came into last season overweight and struggled. He went 12-14 last year with a 4.52 ERA. This year, he has slimmed down, hit the weights and come out of the gates with a bang. If only the rest of the Mariners pitching staff could follow that same regimen, the M’s would be in good shape.

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