Rich Hofmann: Hamels ready, rested for Game 5 of NLCS
LOS ANGELES - Peering into the Phillies' dugout down toward the end, what you saw mostly was a team grimly transfixed. Every once in a while, somebody stood up for no apparent reason, to pace, to go nowhere. Crushed paper cups and assorted crap littered the floor.
Some moved to the rail to offer encouragement. Others applauded and back-patted as fielders returned at the half-inning. But who knew? No one did.
YONG KIM / Staff photographer
Ryan Howard pumps his fist after scoring tying run on a wild pitch in the sixth inning.
And then it happened, in bits and pieces and a couple of eighth-inning cannon shots by Shane Victorino and Matt Stairs. The Phillies beat the Dodgers, 7-5, to take a 3-1 lead in the National League Championship Series. And now a franchise and its 24-year-old ace stand on the cusp of history.
For the first time since 1993, the Phillies are one game away from the World Series. The game belongs to Cole Hamels. It is rightfully his.
He says he welcomes the increasingly ratcheted pressure. You ask him and he says, "Of course,'' as if there was no other possible answer. Of course. Of course.
"I think throughout my career or my lifetime . . . you know going out there in the big game, you want to be that guy that can dictate it,'' he said.
"And I think if you have the mind-set and the talent to do so, then you should be able to go out there and have success. And I think that's something I have the confidence that I can go out there and do it. I know I have the talent to do it. It's just a matter of time and getting that opportunity to do it.
"I've had the opportunity this year and I've been able to not only come through but hopefully put us into more situations where I can do it again, and again, and again,'' Hamels said.
Again and again and again.
It had been such an emotional game, with so many twists. For a long while there, it looked as if the Phillies would squander their 2-0 series lead over the Dodgers, raising every terrible feeling a Philadelphia sports fan has ever felt. Today would have been the longest off day in NLCS history, much more than 24 hours, crammed with anxiety.
But first came Shane Victorino, then Matt Stairs. And now what is left is Hamels, and history. He swore before the game yesterday that he would not be nervous.
"I think with having last year's, I guess sort of excitement and introduction to the playoffs in the postseason, that pretty much taught me what I need to know this season, even though it's a different situation around and around,'' Hamels said.
"I know when you make it to each game or each series is a little bit more important. This one is definitely important just for the fact that we almost are there. We're almost to the World Series. We're almost at the chance of becoming world champions. So I think it's going to be more of a good question in the next couple of days if we clinch.''
It is his moment. In the past, Hamels has talked about wanting to be an All-Star and win Cy Young Awards and be a part of just what he is about to be a part of tomorrow night. A lot of people don't get him mostly because of his manner, because he doesn't always walk around with his Cali-to-South Philly dictionary.
But know this: He has always wanted this game, this moment. He has wanted it desperately, and wanting it is half the battle when you demonstrate the requisite ability to reach this level.
That people see him as soft is absurd. That the Phils have been questioned about not pitching him on 3 days' rest in this series is a reach. The guy is closing in on 250 innings for the season; he is the Phillies' undisputed ace. He has been great in his two previous playoff starts.
They have this set up perfectly. And the reason he wasn't pitching on 3 days' rest was not because he didn't want to do it - it is because his bosses refuse to let him at this still-tender part of his career.
"I think it wasn't even in my mind,'' Hamels said. "I think because they've convinced me or they've talked to me enough to where, because the amount of workload that I've gone through throughout the season, they don't want to push me to my limit.
"I think pitching every 5 days is a good assessment of what I can do and what I'm capable of doing. And I can be at my best. I don't think they want to risk it with me trying to go an extra day early for one more win, because it takes four . . .
"[With] the competitiveness in me, I'd love to do it but because I've never done it I don't want to risk it in the postseason. I think it's something I definitely can try in the season, like Jamie [Moyer] and Brett [Myers] were able to do this year.
"And I think it will be something where it will show what I'm truly capable of doing, whenever we make the postseason again,'' Hamels said.
The Phillies have made a simple, logical calculation: that with this still-young kid, they like the odds of getting two strong and well-rested starts from him more than the uncharted waters of one rested start, one short-rested start, and one more rested start if the series goes that far. It makes perfect sense.
"He's got 247 innings,'' pitching coach Rich Dubee said. "To have him twice is nice. To have him three times, would it have been nicer? If we thought the risk was worth it, but we weren't certain about it.''
This is all about actors and their roles, and accepting how good Cole Hamels has been in his. And now, how good does it look that he will be fully rested when he steps on the mound tomorrow at Dodger Stadium, holding a baseball and a trip to the World Series in his hand? *
Send e-mail to hofmanr@phillynews.com
