Cole Hamels Walks A Slippery Slope

Calling Philadelphia sports fans "fickle" is beyond hackneyed, not least of all because sports fans in general are all fickle by nature. When you invest a huge chunk of your time and emotions in a relationship that spans a lifetime, you're bound to have bipolar ups and downs and the intense desire to micromanage said relationship (albeit vicariously). We all want to see our favorite teams and players succeed. When they fail, a deeply resentful, self-loathing part of us feels personally responsible, and we must tear down the things we love either in order to begin anew or realize why we loved them so much in the first place.

From the moment Cole Hamels arrived at spring training, I was first in the Kool-Aid line. His recent arm troubles have worried me and I completely understand the organization's desire not to rush a young pitcher back onto the roster when the team's playoff chances, for the fifth consecutive season, awkwardly straddle the line between contender and pretender (presciently predicted elsewhere in the blogosphere).

However, I had to cringe when this Cole quote was broadcast from the Mothership:

If the Phillies have fallen too far out of playoff contention, "I don't think it would serve a purpose," Hamels said. "It would be too much of a risk, unless we're going for something. The goal is to finish the season healthy, whether it's two or three starts, but that all depends on our chances for the playoffs."

This reminds me of two incidents from five years ago, one kind of minor and one major and neither of them very pleasant.

1. Mike Lieberthal's ambivalent comments on the final game of the 2002 season, upon which the Phillies could have finished with either an 81-80 or 80-81 record (in other words, a marginal--but clear--winning or losing season) due to a rained-out game with the Braves that was never made up due to its irrelevance in deciding any pennant races. According to Lieby, the guys "didn't really care" even though it could have given the Phils their first back-to-back .500-plus seasons since the early '80s. Not only was this an affront to professionalism and pride, but also, I felt, a tactless sort of ignorance of the history of the franchise and the psyche of the Greater Philadelphia Fandom in general.

2. The legendary Scott Rolen imbroglio in the summer of 2002, which pitted the former fan favorite against quintessential Philly Guy (at the time) Larry Bowa, still in his honeymoon phase after 2001's inexplicable run at a division title. Once Rolen let on that he'd rather not be in Philadelphia, the fan reaction was swift and unmerciful. It is the cardinal sin of athletes in almost any professional city, unless they have already alienated the fan base by some other means, to publicly state what amounts to a civic insult.

Again, most fans cannot really be that fickle or demanding of individual athletes with the dawn of free agency--especially in baseball, where the most inevitable scenario involves a team with bigger coffers waiting to pluck your favorite slugger from your grasp as quickly as possible. There's actually quite a bit of truth in the tired aphorism "cheering for the uniforms." Any perceived disrespect or ambivalence for said uniforms is therefore a highly dangerous course to take if an athlete's popularity is to be considered--and, clearly, some don't consider it at all.

The athlete wants what is best for his career. The fan wants what is best for the team. And, eventually, the athlete breaks his crown careening down a hill of ignominy while the fans (and sometimes the franchise) come tumbling after.

Tread lightly, Cole.

Cole Hamels Eats Lightning and Craps Thunder

Here's a brief list of supposed Phillies "aces" since Curt Schilling was traded:

Robert Person (out of baseball)
Randy Wolf (Tommy John surgery)
Kevin Millwood (50-45, 4.15 ERA since 2003)
Vicente Padilla (banished to Texas with Millwood)
Brett Myers (on DL, trying to salvage career in the bullpen)

While most of these guys were at least decent, none was a true "stopper"--the cool, confident, dynamic pitcher who you believed could stop his team's four-game losing streak (and look like an actual athlete out there on the mound). Finally, the Phils have found an answer:

Cole Freaking Hamels. Second complete game of the year. National League-leading eighth win. Second most strikeouts in the majors, trailing Jake Peavy (who I hear is pretty decent himself) by one.

And much how the Ryan Howard bandwagon took off last year, the Robo-Lefty is gaining a considerable cult following of his own. Cole Hamels Facts are a spin on all those intentionally ridiculous "Chuck Norris Facts" that have been beaten to death for the last couple years. A typical sampling:

Jack Bauer calls Cole Hamels for advice.
When Cole Hamels passes "Go", he collects $400.
Cole puts his pants on 2 legs at a time.
Cole Hamels isn't left-handed, he's bored.
Cole Hamels walks up to Gino's, orders a cheesesteak witout in Spanish, and they still serve him.
One time Cole Hamels spent 40 days in the desert. To survive, he ate whole camels.

There are almost of thousand of these to check out if you are so inclined. Be forewarned: they are all user-submitted, the majority of them suck, and it looks like they aren't screened before being posted ("Cole Hamels once punched a man so hard that he broke his multi-million dollar pitching hand and then lied to the cops about the incident").

Alas, Cole's only human, no matter how much I want to believe these "facts." But I'm still holding out hope that my personal favorite is true:

Wayne Gomes delivers Cole Hamels' newspaper, and Cole doesn't even tip him.

Cole Hamels Facts [colehamelsfacts.com]

The Brewers Are Who We Thought They Were

Colbert Richard Hamels retired 18 Brewers in a row last night and teased a perfect game until the 7th inning in addition to going 2-for-3 at the plate. In six out of his nine starts this year, he's given up three or fewer earned runs, and has yet to walk more than three batters in a game. I'd say that's ace material right there. I hope the Phillies brass enjoy paying him 400K/year while they still can.

Perhaps more importantly, the Phillies finally reached .500 for the first time this year. And it only took them a quarter of the season to do it! Achieving this milestone of mediocrity doesn't do justice to how well the team has played the last couple of weeks (though it does reveal just how terrible April was).

And not to burst anyone's bubble, but it seems that the events of the past week (going 5-1 against the Cubs and Brewers) have helped the Astros more than the Phillies. You're welcome, Houston.

Phillies Notes: Win Just 20 For the Gipper

While puttering around recently on the Baseball Almanac, I was dismayed to learn (not shocked--we are never shocked by bad news here) that the last Phillies pitcher to win at least 20 games in a season was Steve Carlton, who last pulled it off in 1982. Lefty accomplished this feat six times and even won an astonishing 27 games in 1972.

But since '82? Nothing. John Denny won 19 in 1983 and Curt Schilling sniffed at it a couple times, but it's mostly been a pipe dream since then. And you know something? It really doesn't have a lot to do with the pitchers themselves.

Sure, the Phillies have had some horrendous starters over the years (paging Matt Beech), but wins are an immensely overrated stat when used to evaluate pitching. This is Moneyball 101. Wins are much more reflective of the potency of the lineup supporting the pitcher, which tends to make more sense considering the rather anemic offense of the late 1980s and 1990s Phillies (even that 1993 squad lacked a true slugger). What I'm saying is that once you get Jim Thome, then it makes Kevin Millwood look that much better.

What's notable about this year's squad is that they already have two starters that have won 20 games in the past--Jon Lieber and Jamie Moyer--yet have never seemed like terribly gifted pitchers. No, if anyone is going to win 20 anytime soon, it will be Cole Hamels. Watching the Phils-Giants game on Sunday, I saw a performance even better than his line indicated (5 runs, some of them the product of poor fielding). His stuff simply baffles hitters. And with the kind of run support he gets--the kind that allows Adam Eaton to have a winning record despite an 8.18 ERA--twenty wins is not out of the realm of possibility. Even if Ryan Howard continues to resemble 2003 Pat Burrell.

Actually, Ryan, I take that back. That's not something I wish on anybody except Scott Thorman.