Photos: 2008 Phillies
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He wants to be a 20-game winner and a perennial all-star. He wants to win a Cy Young Award and make a run at the Hall of Fame.
Back in spring training, Hamels said he wanted to one day pitch a no-hitter and he wanted to do so in front of a sellout crowd in a nationally televised game.
"Now's your chance, big guy," the heavens seemed to be whispering last night.
All the trappings were there for Hamels. Big game. High stakes. Huge crowd. National television. The bright lights of Shea Stadium shined down upon the Phillies' ace one last time.
OK. No one expected Hamels to pitch a no-hitter, not with some of the sticks the New York Mets have in their lineup.
But no one expected this, either. Hamels allowed nine hits and five runs over five innings in a 6-3 loss. The guy who longs for greatness was beaten up by a Mets team that was ripe for the sweeping.
"When you go out there and you're supposed to be a star pitcher, you can't give up three runs in the first inning," Hamels said afterward. "You can't do that to your team."
Playing their final series of the season against their archrivals, the National League East division leaders, the Phillies came into Shea Stadium trailing the Mets by three games with 22 to play. They won Friday night's opener behind Brett Myers' eight shutout innings and Greg Dobbs' two-run homer. They won the first game of yesterday's Super Sunday day-night doubleheader behind Jamie Moyer's seven shutout innings and Dobbs' three-run homer.
The two victories moved the Phils a game behind the Mets with Hamels headed to the mound for the nightcap and the entire baseball world wondering if the Mets were about to start another September swoon.
You could almost hear Mets fans thinking, "Here we go again," as Phillies players shook hands after their afternoon win. But one man put an end to those thoughts last night. And instead of thinking, "Here we go again," Mets fans were chanting, "MVP . . . MVP . . . MVP," as Carlos Delgado (four RBIs on the night) rounded the bases after hitting his second homer of the game in the fifth inning.
Delgado's 22d home run (and 65th RBI) since his in-season revival tour began June 27 gave the Mets a 5-2 lead that they never gave back.
Both Delgado home runs came against Hamels, whose body language was that of a beaten man as he watched the balls sail out of the park. Hamels never appeared comfortable. He didn't seem to agree with home-plate umpire Jerry Meals' strike zone. He needed 110 pitches to cover the five innings.
This wasn't what the team had in mind when it shuffled the pitching rotation so Hamels would get the start against Mets ace Johan Santana. Still, keeping Hamels on his regular day was the right call. He just didn't deliver.
Santana, who has the Cy Young (two of them) that Hamels wants, showed what it means to be a big-game pitcher, holding the Phillies to two runs over 71/3 innings in his team's most important win of the season. Games like this are why the Mets traded for Santana, who is 6-0 in his last 12 starts dating to July 9. Santana has allowed two runs or less in nine of those 12 starts. If the Mets had him last year, they might have hung on and won the East.
Hamels wasn't the only Phillies stud who failed to deliver in this series. Jimmy Rollins had just two hits, Chase Utley one, and Pat Burrell none.
The offensive star of the series was Dobbs, a role player who started twice at third because, as manager Charlie Manuel said: "We haven't been scoring runs. I wanted his bat."
Last night's loss put a sad face on what actually was a pretty good weekend, thanks mostly to Myers, Moyer and Dobbs. The Phils got two wins, but they wanted so much more. A win last night would have evened up the division race with 19 to play.
Now, the Phils are two back in the division and four back in the wild-card race with wild-card leader Milwaukee arriving in Philadelphia for a four-game series Thursday.
It could have been worse. The Phils could have come in here and been swept, possibly out of the race. Two out of three ain't bad. The Phils needed that at the very least. They are still in the division race, though they no longer have any head-to-head potential ground-gainers remaining against the Mets, who control their own destiny.
Barring a playoff meeting with the Mets, the Phils have played their last game in Shea Stadium. Their final record in the big ball yard in Queens was 199-184-1.
Cole Hamels couldn't get them that much-needed 200th win.
at 215-854-4983 or jsalisbury@phillynews.com.
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