Hamels optimistic about outing, despite Phils' loss to Giants

SAN FRANCISCO - It was a changeup, right where Cole Hamels said he wanted it. Edgar Renteria reached out, caught it with the end of his bat and yanked it down the third-base line. One inch to the left and it would have been foul.

But for the better part of this season, the inches have not fallen in Hamels' favor.

"It dropped exactly where I wanted it," Hamels said of the pitch, but the double helped spark a three-run sixth inning that the Giants rode to a 7-3 win over the Phillies yesterday at AT & T Park. "I wanted a ground ball. Unfortunately, he hit it right over the base."

Two things were clear as Hamels walked off the mound in frustration with the bases loaded in the sixth, having retired just one of the previous nine batters he had faced.

First, he did not pitch nearly as poorly as his line - seven runs, six earned, 10 hits in five-plus innings - would indicate.

Second, he is still battling to find the consistent control that turned him into a World Series MVP last season.

Hamels was optimistic after the Phillies' most recent loss, their fourth in five games after a blistering stretch in which they won 19 of 22. He felt like he located the ball well, throwing inside with his fastball while relying heavily on a curveball that had a diminished presence in his repertoire during the first 3 months of the season.

After allowing an RBI triple to Aaron Rowand in the second, he retired 11 of the next 12 batters, the final two of which represented the first two outs of the fifth inning. But that is when misfortune struck.

Hamels, who was knocked out of two early starts by minor freak injuries, watched opposing starter Barry Zito hit a broken-bat single on a 1-1 changeup to keep the inning alive. Eugenio Velez then hit a bloop single that fell in front of Ben Francisco in rightfield, setting up a three-run rally that gave the Giants a 4-3 lead. One of those runs scored on a throwing error by Ryan Howard, who rushed a flip to first base on a weak groundball by Pablo Sandoval.

"It seems like something always happens when he pitches," said Charlie Manuel, whose team fell to 59-44 and saw its lead over the Marlins in the National League East shrink to five games. "It seems like something unusual or something different [happens]. It seems like we find a way to do something kind of funny when he pitches."

But elite pitchers also find a way to rebound from bad breaks, and Hamels admits he has struggled to do so this season. One of the key factors for his supreme performance over the first two-and-a-half seasons as a major leaguer was his ability to locate both his fastball and changeup in all sectors of the strike zone.

Yesterday, catcher Carlos Ruiz said he thought Hamels struggled at times to locate his changeup, resulting in an increased emphasis on the curveball. While the young lefty was only a good break or two from a quality outing, he also left some pitches over the plate that were intended to go inside.

"To me, you make good pitches, you are going to get outs," Ruiz said. "Most of the time when you leave the ball in the middle of the plate, you are going to pay. That happens."

That said, Hamels still has 2 months left in the regular season to find a consistent groove. The arrival of reigning American League Cy Young winner Cliff Lee should lessen the need for Hamels to be as dominant as he was last season. In 2008, he pitched at least six innings and allowed three or fewer runs in 23 of his 33 starts. This season, he has done so in just 10 of 21.

When Manuel was asked what he needs out of Hamels for the final 2 months of the season, the Phillies manager responded, "Just pitch like he can."

"He's a competitor," Manuel said. "He wants to stay out there and he wants to get it done. He's determined. He's going to be OK. He'll get it going. I know I say that, but he is. He's going to get it going."

Heading into the loss to the Giants, which dropped Hamels to 7-6 with a 4.68 ERA, the Phillies had won in his five previous starts. During that stretch, Hamels held opposing hitters to a .182 batting average and posted a 3-0 record with a 3.00 ERA.

Hamels, Ruiz and Manuel all agreed that, barring a couple of bad breaks yesterday, he could have maintained those numbers. His location has improved. He said he has done a better job of maintaining his focus. His curveball is becoming more of a weapon.

Now the trick is to put it all together.

"If you don't learn from your failures, and you keep on failing, you are going to be out of this game real fast," Hamels said. "I've learned a lot from my failures. And just the fact that it is going to start getting down to crunch time . . . I think that's when I focus the most. I'm not saying I don't focus at all [at other times], but I think I really do bear down a little bit more, just in knowing that the games have some meaning behind them."

For more Phillies coverage and opinion, read David Murphy's blog, High Cheese, at http://go.philly.com/highcheese.