Hamels turns slow start into great ending for Phillies
Greatness is defined in a couple of ways in baseball. Physical ability determines a lot of it. The study and practice of the sport's arcane techniques is another. But there is more.
Simply: Look at somebody when he isn't quite at his best. Look at a pitcher in a baseball game when he doesn't quite have what he usually has, be it a deficiency in his stuff or his power or his command. Then take your measurements. Then look at the results.
With that, look at Cole Hamels.
Look at how last night was great.
As Brad Lidge said, "He didn't have his best control and he was still able to pitch a great game."
That is it. Hamels had to pitch out of trouble in the very first inning last night in the Phillies' 3-2 win over the Dodgers. He had to hold the Dodgers to one run after Manny Ramirez clubbed an RBI double off the centerfield fence.
"I didn't know if he really got it that well," Hamels said. "But I'm just lucky it didn't go out because it definitely helped out and definitely put us in a better favor than down 2-0 instead of 1-0."
He lasted seven innings total, allowing two runs on six hits. But it was never that easy, and the nerves were there at the start, he said.
"I think going into the game, I definitely had the nerves that everybody does," he said. "You're just so excited to finally be here. You step out on the field. The crowd's going crazy.
"I guess when you step up to the mound and you finally get in there and you dig in, you just kind of - trying to force it out, but you are excited. I mean, this is what we play for . . . the postseason. When you first let that first pitch go, most of the time the nerves disappear. But I think a lot of times with starters it's after the first inning.
"After the first inning you truly try to settle down, and if you can get out of the first inning with no runs or get out of the inning with a couple of runs, you try to settle down and you do settle down most of the time."
Which is what happened. *
