Phillies' ace Cole Hamels has been one of the most dominant pitchers in the major leagues this year. He is third in the major leagues in innings pitched with 203, behind Roy Halladay of the Toronto Blue Jays and CC Sabathia of the Milwaukee Brewers. He has 174 strikeouts with a 3.01 ERA. He has two complete game shutouts and a WHIP of 1.03.
Tuesday night he pitched seven and a third shutout innings against the Nationals, striking out six. Hamels is the guy you want to face off against Johan Santana in the season finale against the Mets on Sunday. But does Hamels want to be that guy?
When asked about whether he would pitch on Sunday (Sunday would be the normal five days rest for Hamels, but due to the off day on Thursday, his normal spot in the rotation doesn't come up until Monday) Hamels replied,
"I think I just won a ballgame. That's all I'm thinking about."
When pressed on the issue, Hamels artfully dodged making a commitment to pitching in what will in all likelihood be the most important game of the season up until that point. It wasn't clear whether Hamels was simply being coy, or if he legitimately has an opinion on the matter and does not want to pitch ahead of schedule.
There has been some speculation that Hamels is worried about his arm since this is the first time in his career that he has pitched more than 200 innings in a season.
"I guess it's tough just because it's so late in the game and I haven't been really a good player or teammate with the injuries I've gotten in the past," Hamels said. "So it's kind of a sticky situation. I think this is something where I obviously want to get past this so I don't have to think about an injury-type situation ever again. I can come into every season and be healthy. I think that's the key that my teammates want to think about, that I want to think about."
There has also been speculation that since the Phillies rebuffed his request for a contract extension this past offseason, he is reluctant to put his health on the line.
There is no evidence that any of this is true and is just sports radio fodder, but it creates an interesting point. Regardless of the reason, this time of year you want your ace to reply to the question of "Do you want to pitch in the biggest game of the year?" with "Hell yes I do! Give me the damn ball!" With the biggest game of the year coming up, against the Mets, in Shea Stadium, against Johan Santana, on national TV, you do not want to hear,
"I don't know. I don't have a comment for that."
Chances are that he will pitch Sunday, especially with the recent struggles of sophomore pitcher Kyle Kendrick, who is currently slated to pitch in that game. All indications are that Kendrick is done for the year, to be replaced by J.A. Happ, who has minimal big league pitching experience and is absolutely not the guy you want pitching in such a pivotal game.
The Phillies are in a down to the wire Pennant race and this is the situation you have an ace for. Santana continues to be one of the best pitchers in all of major league baseball and this could go down as one of the greatest matchups in recent history. You want your ace to have that fire, to have that drive. To put it plainly, you want Cole Hamels to act like Brett Myers.
Say what you want about Myers, but he has the fire, the drive, the desire to be the guy with the season on the line. In early August Myers was taken out of a game by manager Charlie Manuel and then visibly got into an argument with him when they were both in the dugout. Myers was pissed off that Manuel removed him and wanted to stay in the game.
Hamels has the talent to be the ace, but does he have the character? We shall see.
Tuesday night he pitched seven and a third shutout innings against the Nationals, striking out six. Hamels is the guy you want to face off against Johan Santana in the season finale against the Mets on Sunday. But does Hamels want to be that guy?
When asked about whether he would pitch on Sunday (Sunday would be the normal five days rest for Hamels, but due to the off day on Thursday, his normal spot in the rotation doesn't come up until Monday) Hamels replied,
"I think I just won a ballgame. That's all I'm thinking about."
When pressed on the issue, Hamels artfully dodged making a commitment to pitching in what will in all likelihood be the most important game of the season up until that point. It wasn't clear whether Hamels was simply being coy, or if he legitimately has an opinion on the matter and does not want to pitch ahead of schedule.
There has been some speculation that Hamels is worried about his arm since this is the first time in his career that he has pitched more than 200 innings in a season.
"I guess it's tough just because it's so late in the game and I haven't been really a good player or teammate with the injuries I've gotten in the past," Hamels said. "So it's kind of a sticky situation. I think this is something where I obviously want to get past this so I don't have to think about an injury-type situation ever again. I can come into every season and be healthy. I think that's the key that my teammates want to think about, that I want to think about."
There has also been speculation that since the Phillies rebuffed his request for a contract extension this past offseason, he is reluctant to put his health on the line.
There is no evidence that any of this is true and is just sports radio fodder, but it creates an interesting point. Regardless of the reason, this time of year you want your ace to reply to the question of "Do you want to pitch in the biggest game of the year?" with "Hell yes I do! Give me the damn ball!" With the biggest game of the year coming up, against the Mets, in Shea Stadium, against Johan Santana, on national TV, you do not want to hear,
"I don't know. I don't have a comment for that."
Chances are that he will pitch Sunday, especially with the recent struggles of sophomore pitcher Kyle Kendrick, who is currently slated to pitch in that game. All indications are that Kendrick is done for the year, to be replaced by J.A. Happ, who has minimal big league pitching experience and is absolutely not the guy you want pitching in such a pivotal game.
The Phillies are in a down to the wire Pennant race and this is the situation you have an ace for. Santana continues to be one of the best pitchers in all of major league baseball and this could go down as one of the greatest matchups in recent history. You want your ace to have that fire, to have that drive. To put it plainly, you want Cole Hamels to act like Brett Myers.
Say what you want about Myers, but he has the fire, the drive, the desire to be the guy with the season on the line. In early August Myers was taken out of a game by manager Charlie Manuel and then visibly got into an argument with him when they were both in the dugout. Myers was pissed off that Manuel removed him and wanted to stay in the game.
Hamels has the talent to be the ace, but does he have the character? We shall see.
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