SEATTLE — Those who work closest with Felix Hernandez insist his runner-up finish for the 2009 American League Cy Young Award is only the beginning.

Mariners pitching coach Rick Adair says Hernandez, who finished a distant second to Kansas City Royals ace Zack Greinke in Cy Young voting results announced Tuesday, took a major step forward in learning to harness his pitches. And once Hernandez becomes even more economical in the number of pitches he throws, Adair said he could post numbers even better than his 19-5 record and 2.49 earned-run average from this past season.

“Felix is going to get better,” Adair said. “We’re excited about it.”

A closer examination of Hernandez’s numbers from the 2009 campaign appears to bear that out.

Through a loss to the Angels on May 19 that left him 4-3 with a 4.19 ERA, Hernandez had been averaging 15.75 pitches per inning. From that point onward, he averaged 15.0 pitches per frame and his season took off.

“He showed a willingness to make some adjustments and just take things a little more serious,” Adair said.

In the end, it wasn’t enough to overtake Greinke, who garnered 25 of a possible 28 first-place votes cast by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Hernandez had two first-place votes, and Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers received the other.

Greinke’s vote total was worth 130 points, with Hernandez next at 80 in what was essentially a two-horse race. Verlander was third (14), followed by CC Sabathia of the New York Yankees (13) and Roy Halladay of the Toronto Blue Jays (11).

“Greinke deserved it,” Hernandez said from his home in Venezuela. “Before the season was over, I said my vote was for him.”

Hernandez added: “This has taught me that I need to be perfect. I will prepare myself to be stronger next season. I will need a superb year because just a good one, it’s not enough.”

Hernandez’s season was better than merely “good” -- his ERA was lower than that registered by any of the previous eight AL Cy Young winners. But Greinke’s 2.16 ERA was a third of a run better, the best by an AL starter since Pedro Martinez in 2000, and helped overcome a win total of only 16 that tied for the lowest ever by a Cy Young starter.

Greinke’s candidacy was likely helped by a 6-0 start and wins in eight of his first nine decisions with an ERA of only 0.84. The key to Hernandez avoiding a slow start next season could very well rest on his ability to throw fewer pitches early in games.

A difference of roughly one pitch per inning might not sound like much. But throwing a half-dozen more pitches to get through the sixth inning might often mean the difference between a hurler’s night ending there or being allowed back out to work through the seventh.

In Hernandez’s case, he went seven innings or more in 20 of his 25 starts after May 19. Before that, he’d gone at least seven innings in just four of nine outings.

“I think you’ve seen, with Felix, there tends to be one or two innings in a game where he gets in trouble,” Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said after the voting results were announced. “But I think as he gets a little more efficient, he can go deeper.”

It was Wakamatsu’s infamous “calling out” of Hernandez after that May 19 loss to the Angels that appeared to serve as a catalyst for the pitcher taking his game to a higher level. Hernandez displayed a focus rarely seen during his first three full seasons with the club and maintained his level of excellence over the final four-plus months of the season.

“This guy’s got a chance to be special,” Wakamatsu said.

Mariners catcher Rob Johnson agreed that things should only get better from here.

“Felix is only 23 years old,” he said. “It’s absolutely amazing that it’s just his fourth year in the big leagues. No doubt in my mind he’ll be a Cy Young winner someday soon.”