Hamels in control -- again
News blogs, sports blogs, entertainment blogs, and more from Philly.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.
Hamels in control -- again
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
The story in today's Inquirer of Tuesday's 4-1 Phillies win centers around Raul Ibanez ending his hitless streak because, well, how many times will we see something like that again? (I have a feeling I know what the first comment on this entry will be.)
Charlie Manuel made the first drastic changes to his lineup for Game 28. He kept Ibanez in there and the left fielder rewarded him. Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino combined for the dynamic duo at the top of the lineup Manuel says his team sorely needs.
Oh, and Cole Hamels pitched a complete game, hit a triple and scored a run.
He was fantastic on the mound, locating all of his pitches.
(As for the triple, Hamels said he knew it wasn't out of the park when he hit it off the end of the bat. Manuel said he was trying to will it out of the park and predicted Hamels will hit a home run one of these days. Hamels said he'd like that home run to be in the second deck and not just over the fence, like Tuesday's ball appeared to be headed.)
In the five starts since his disastrous beginning against the Mets, Hamels has won four. The Phillies have won all five. His season, excluding start No. 1:
38 IP, 24 H, 6 ER, 8 BB, 37 K, 2 HR, 1.42 ERA
"I'm keeping the same mentality I had last year," Hamels said.
If you'll recall, that was a very good one. After the calendar turned from April to May, Hamels had a 2.68 ERA in 178 innings. His ERA in April was 5.28 in 30 2/3 innings.
He threw both his fastball and changeup with conviction Tuesday. As usual, most of the opposition's swings and misses came on the change (six of 26 times he threw it). An astonishing 23 of his 26 changes were for strikes.
He used his curveball just twice, causing one swing and a miss. He threw the cutter 16 times, 10 for strikes.
His command was on for all four pitches.
"Early on I was hitting my spots," Hamels said. "If I do that, I know I can go further."
He did that, and more.
Have a question? Send it to Matt Gelb's Mailbag.
Download our NEW iPhone/Android app for easy access to all of our Phillies coverage, plus app-exclusive videos and analysis. Get it here.
Man I hope they have the $$. Anyone who could ever doubt his ability or future after last year just ain't paying attention. He mutured athletically and emotionally. Don't hurt having guys like Moyer, Oswalt, Halladay and Lee to hang out with chatting pitching in between starts.— Clem- Greta stuff by Hamels so far this season. It's great to keep the Hamels Haters quiet for the time being.— ESFjellin
- Cole has been great. I think that Roy H. has been a great influence on Cole - role model for work ethic and mental toughness. Hope the Phils will be able to re-sign him when the time comes. In the meantime we can just sit back and enjoy the pitching!— PhanNan
- He is as much of a joy to watch as Doc. But it seems every mention of him either broadcast or print MUST bring up the one and only start that wasn't very good (DAMN!...Now I'm doing it!)I stopped attaching importance to that one a few innings into his next one.Will he be this good the rest of the year?.....With THIS offense, we'd better hope so. And why was his second hit, a line SHOT off a real fastball, not mentioned in this article?— TBear
- I remember all of the idiots on this blog who were ready to get rid of Hamels after the 2009 and 2010. If he stays healthy this man is Hall of Fame material. Hamels is going to be a star around Philly for years to come. Lefties like this are a rare find. Looks more like Steve Carlton every time out.— Al Wilson
- Even with that one bad start Cole has the second lowest ERA of the starters. Only Doc is better. The two guys have some parallels in their careers. Halladay had two great years when he was 25-26, winning his first Cy Young at 26. Then he had an off year before settling in as the ace he is today. Cole had two good years at 24-25, winning the WS MVP at 25. Then he also followed with an off year and is now looking like he might be settling in for a long run as a ace. One thing he seems to have learned, maybe from the other 3 guys, is to minimize the damage and get out of jams. All these guys have their off days. One thing that sets guys like Halladay, Lee and Oswalt apart is their ability to work out of bad situations. I see that with Cole this year more than any year before. That, to me, is one of the key differences in the more mature Cole Hamels.— s
- Cole is going to have a great career. The kid has a live fastball, a great change, and the cutter is coming along nicely. The curve is there if he needs to throw it a couple times a game. Whether or not he masters it is not that important. Very good / great command of those other three are enough.
The biggest reason that he had a down year in '09 and the first half of '10 was that hitters made the adjustments and he couldn't succeed as simply a 2-pitch pitcher. He brought in the cutter and the occasional curve and he is a much better pitcher for it. The command of his fastball (most important to any pitcher at any level) got even better too.— tjuliano21 - I want the Phillies to win but I'm sorry Raul ended his hitless streak. It would have a great accomplishment for him to set the Major League record.— Drew777
- Love the effort by Cole. But how bad would it be if in stretching it oout for a triple, he pulled a leg muscle or broke his hand sliding. We are only into May and don't need that push from our pitcher - save it for October & November.— ATrucksess
