Voices come at him like memories wherever he is, no matter how bruised and battered rival hitters leave him. Running in the outfield before games at Safeco Field, fans call out. Around his beloved city of Seattle, friends call out.
You're still the King!
"That's what they say," Felix Hernandez says softly one recent morning, smiling at the thought. "And I'm like, 'Yeah, I know that.'"
But he also knows he has not earned a victory since June 30—he quotes the date himself following another recent loss. He knows that clunkers are stacking up like tourists at Pike Place Market, the count now at seven consecutive losses.