If you have missed me on the air it is because I have stayed in Peoria  to work on some future "Beyond the Baselines" while the team is in Tucson . The team does not move to Tucson  for the three game series, rather they shuttle players in and out. There isn't a ton of access on the road so it made more sense for me to stay back.

That said, wish I could have seen Felix today. Looks like he was on, pitching 5 scoreless striking out 3 and a 10-2 groundball to fly ball number. Sinker must have been working.

Felix has been kind of tugged in different directions the past couple of years on how to exactly use his stuff. Too much fastball, not enough fastball, underutilizing of the breaking pitches and so on. Apparently it can be a problem when you have so much stuff and a student willing to listen.

I talked to Johjima about this and he told me that the game plan is solidly in place for this year relaying this through interpreter Antony Suzuki:

"I think there are two game plans with Felix.  If his sinker is working, great we can use the sinker early in the game and get the strikeouts with his breaking ball because the sinker will make the breaking ball very effective. But if the sinker is not working we will have to use the breaking ball more often and get that sinker as the strikeout pitch. So there are two ways in his game plan, since he has got a great breaking ball and great command he can come up with any kind of sequence as well."

I talked to Felix about this after his last start and here is what he had to say.

"That's true. You know if I have my two seamer working then I am going to throw it a lot. You saw me a couple years ago throw a lot of two seamers, a lot of fastball and I got a lot of success. When my two seamer works I am going to get a lot of groundballs and a lot of quick outs and that's what I want. If it doesn't work I will figure out something else, throw the breaking ball, choke the fastball and throw the breaking ball, that's all. But if I have the fastball in command it's going to be easier for my breaking ball to work better."

The only difference I hear between the two, and I will have to ask Kenji about this, is that Kenji sounds like he is going for the strikeout while Felix wants the quick groundball out. Jamie Burke is on board with the plan as well and loves to catch Felix. Interestingly enough, if my quick check of the box scores is correct, Joh has yet to catch Felix this spring. This may be nothing more than spring scheduling since Felix follows Bedard and the catchers usually don't go back to back early on. The priority right now would be for Joh to learn the new number 1.

And what of that? Was number one named too soon? I am not sure. I have said all along that I thought putting Bedard number one was a good idea because that alone would push Felix. Felix has lived a rather charmed (and make no mistake, deservedly so) baseball life, encountering very little adversity along the way. I always felt that he needed a little bit of an edge and that maybe seeing someone else put in front of him would give him that edge. He has said on the record that he doesn't care where he pitches in the rotation. When he was told he would be the number 1 last year however, it was a very big deal for him. Listen here for an interview I did with him shortly after he was named opening day starter for 2007.

My question is, while it may have been okay to not give him the opening day starter role, was it okay to take it away from him? My only concern is will taking away the honor do any damage? Did he do anything to deserve losing number one?

Is he pitching well right now because he is being pushed or he is angry that he was not named number 1? I doubt it, though I still sense a tiny bit of attitude in him that he wants to be "the guy". Looks like if this is true though, he is channeling it in the right direction. And how about that interview. Hear the difference between Felix a year ago and Felix last week? There is a lot of confidence there, and the English, the projection and enunciation (sorry, I am a radio person) are almost perfect. He has been working at that as well. I teased him last year about turning into a "go to" guy on the team. I wasn't exactly teasing. Not bad for 21. He definitely is growing up. He used to often point out that he was the "baby" both of his family and in life in general. I can't imagine him saying that now. The difference to me, someone who has seen him since he came up is pretty remarkable.

News and notes…Anyone panicking yet? Ichiro now 0-21. Saving his hits for the season no doubt. Ichiro is not alone though in that department. It would appear that the team has hit the "dead bat" portion of the spring…Since I stayed back in Peoria I got to hear a bunch of golf stories as the guys here wrapped up early both Mon. and Tue. then hit the links. Chris Reitsma hit according to himself the shot of his life, an eagle on a par 5, 535 yard 18th to give his team the win yesterday. He asked me to have Mark Lowe tell me about it but Lowe said he was still too angry to talk about it…Mike Hargrove is in town and has been at the complex the past two days. He looks good and has a big summer coming up as he will manage the Jayhawks League Liberal Kansas team this summer then be inducted into the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame…Line of the spring so far, (said in a Tennessee drawl) "Oh Gawd, ah think you might want to get the mask". Jim Caple of ESPN fame was in camp to do a story on and try to catch RA Dickey. Caple donned the catchers gear sans mask as Dickey warmed up. The line came after the first knuckler thrown zoomed past Caple's ear…From the "what goes around comes around department", Miguel Batista and Jose Vidro were teammates on the Expos ten years ago. Batista loaned Vidro a video about Satchel Paige that Vidro didn't return. Batista recently found a replacement video (it is not out on disc) and put the bill for it in Vidro's locker…From the "what the heck are they thinking department", the Yankees reportedly are okay with the NHL hosting the final game at Yankee Stadium…From the "I'm out of here department", I am going to take a little break and will be back March 19. Matt Pitman will replace me and I have instructed him that he must blog…