Written by Mike Mariano | 22 June 2009

Last night, Hamels got the loss after going 8 strong and only surrendering two earned.  It was a great outing, he even K’d 10 Orioles.  But, it wasn’t enough.  With this loss, Hamels is 4-3 with a 4.24 ERA.  Not exactly the optimal statistics of your ace pitcher.  Up and down is the name of the game for Hamels who has struggled to string together too many good starts thus far in ‘09.

This game was a classic example of Hamels losing with little run support in a game we needed.  Last year was the same story.  Hamels pitches good, we lose anyway.  Hamels gives up 2-3 over 7-8, but we needed more.  The question remains, is this enough or does the Ace have to do better?

Cole demonstrated in last year’s playoffs what he’s capable off, maybe that’s why it’s difficult to be satisfied with losses like these.  Being our ace, it’s not outrageous to say that two runs over eight innings isn’t good enough.  But it’s a tad unreasonable.  Games like this are the reason Hamels was only 14-10 in ‘08.  But games like this are the reason that Hamels was flawless in the playoffs.

It is appearing that this is the pitcher that Cole is and that’s okay.  He’s a great pitcher and great guy to have as your ace.  He’s going to come up short here and there and at the end of the year his stats won’t be all that gaudy.  Will Hamels ever go 22-5?  He’s surely capable, but probably not (then again, he’s only 23, let’s not rule anything out). 

However, when it’s a must-win situation, he’s on the short list of guys around the bigs who you trust with the ball.  That’s more than enough for me.