It’s no secret that Felix Hernandez was a broken pitcher last year, when the cracks and fissures from previous seasons finally led to a collapse. The numbers screamed it. Your eyes revealed it, even if your heart tried to reject that notion.
But Hernandez himself never conceded that reality, not publicly anyway. He was too proud, or too stubborn, or both. In fact, he seemed to dig in his heels and double down in his efforts to prove he could still win while doing it his way.
In many ways, it was a facade. Hernandez can admit that now, increasingly comfortable in the reinvention — more like the resurrection — of his career.