Cole's Lament

Written by Gino Ferretti | 20 August 2010

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In the past 30 days, there hasn't been a hotter hitting NL team than the Phillies . Their combined .281 batting average is second to only the Minnesota Twins for best in all of baseball. But between the onslaught of clutch hitting and the dominance of their 19-6 record in their last 25 games, the Phillies have been bad. Bad in the eyes of one man who has pitched hard and long while his supporting cast of offensive sultan's have come up limp and short for him.

In his last 8 starts, Cole Hamels is 1-3 with a 1.87 ERA. He's given up 13 walks and has struck out 58 batters in 54.2 innings. 4 of those starts have been no decisions. He's gone 7+ innings in 6 of those 8 starts. So what gives? That is the question that has been tossed around the Philly sports nation for the past month as each flawless start and opportunistic scoring chances have been wasted by first pitch swinging, double play hitting, and clueless base running. Despite what he says, you can see it in Cole's gaze from the dugout. The tired stare. The gloom. The feeling of inadequacy. The feeling of depreciation.  Roy Halladay and new comer Roy Oswalt have been supported by a string of inflated leads which have allowed 8 complete games for Halladay. For Oswalt, he's received 16 runs in 4 games and bulked up his record to 3-1 since coming over to the Phillies from the Astros one day before the trade deadline. For Oswalt, one of the lustful traits of the Phillies was run support. The same run support he didn't get in Houston. The same run support Cole Hamels doesn't get in Philly. But he's not really concerned about it. To Hollywood Hamels, it's all red carpets and gnarly waves.

"I haven't really followed the wins and losses. I just try to completely blank that out"*

Last night he was pulled after the 5th inning of  the teams 8-2 loss where again the offense didn't support, or in this case, help him vs. the underachieving Giants hitters. In fact, the 2 runs the Phillies did manufacture weren't until the top of the 9th inning, when Cole was already bench ridden. Since August 1st, the Phillies have scratched Hamels' gems with only 2 runs. The opposition? Before last night, his last two starts were 1-0 losses. For a team that's been resilient in their pursuit of a third consecutive Red October, one cant help but think that Hamels has to be green with disgust. During the off season when Cole Hamels sits down and ponders a Christmas list for his teammates, what is he to get a batting order full of naughty hitters when they've already gotten all the Cole they can get?

But maybe he feels this is just another chapter in the life of the pitcher. He's certainly not alone in the dissection of baseball's best pitchers who have had lost seasons. Oakland A's pitcher Brian Kingman lost a whopping 12 out of his last 15 starts of the 1980 season en route to a league leading 20 losses despite striking out 113 and pitching 10 complete games. In 1987 Houston Astros ace Nolan Ryan struck out an MLB best 270 batters and had an MLB leading .276 ERA despite losing 16 games and piecing together only 8 wins. Somewhere along the line every pitcher has a down season. But most of the time the good ones strive and the bad ones self destruct. In the rare case of Cole Hamels though, part of being great may mean having to have a season where greatness is overshadowed simply by a lack of support. There was no Ike without Tina. No Sonny without Cher. And certainly, no Cole without runs.

After spending last year under fire for his lack of pitch location and easily rattled composure, he's now being reprimanded for having a too laid back composure as he's said virtually nothing in bitterness or disappointment toward his team. Maybe it's good to be mature enough to bite down on your tongue and go back to your hotel room and punch pillows. At least it's in private. At least it doesn't ruffle the feathers of your teammates and cause rumor mills to print in fervor.  But don't think for one second that Cole Hamels forgets. As the 2010 season winds down, he will be working on a list and checking it twice. Not the Christmas list, but another type of list. A more personal list. With each remaining start, that list will eat itself fat. Or starve itself thin. Either way, no one wants to be on this list. That list rhymes with one of the key words to jump starting this limp offense: Hit.