Time to talk about Hamels’ lack of success against top teams?

Written by Mike Mariano | 27 August 2009

Last night Hamels went eight strong, striking out seven and allowing zero against the Pirates.  It was his first start over 6 innings in a month and his first game striking out more than six in that same time period.  In a bit of tough luck, Madson blew the save and Hamels didn’t get the win, but it was a solid and much needed outing nonetheless. 

Problems?  Well, it was against the Pirates.  Currently Hamels is 7-8 with a 4.52 ERA on the season and let’s look at a rundown of Hamels’ starts where he has gone 7+ innings this season:

Aug. 26 – PIT: 8.0 IP, 0 ER, 7 H, 7 K

Jul. 28 – ARI: 8.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 9 K

Jul. 23 – SD: 7.0 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 6 K

Jul. 6 – CIN: 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 8 K

Jun. 21 – BAL: 8.0 IP, 2 ER, 9 H, 10 K

Jun. 4 – LAD: 9.0 IP, 0 ER, 5 H, 5 K

May 14 – LAD: 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 7 H, 9 K

So over this season, Hamels has 7 starts of 7 IP or more.  To put that in perspective, our other (or only the way Cole has been pitching) ace, Cliff Lee, has 5 starts of 7 IP or more since joining the Phillies and he’s only pitched 5 games in that span!  On the year Cliff Lee has 19 starts of 7 IP or more!  Also, look at the teams Cole recorded those games against: Pittsburgh, Arizona, San Diego, Cincinnati, Baltimore & Los Angeles (twice).  The Dodgers starts are great, however those were 3 months ago.  Otherwise, he hasn’t had a start like that against a team with a winning percentage over .430.

Now don’t take this as some wild “Cole Hamels sucks” rant.  Cole’s a season removed from a World Series MVP and dominant playoff performance, he didn’t magically fall off the face of the earth.  However, as much as I’ve tried to deny it, Cole is not good right now.  At least not nearly good enough.  I’m in the camp of, “who cares, as long as we make the playoffs” at this point.  Because if he dominates in the playoffs again, then frankly, I don’t give a shit how he pitched in the regular season to get there.  But, the way he has pitched against non-terrible opponents this season doesn’t leave a lot to be excited about.