Our First Look at Hamels
Last night the Phillies got a nice win but it didn’t have much to do with Cole Hamels. It was a much anticipated night for the Phillies. Many people say the success of their season rides on the play of Hamels who carried them to a World Series title in 2008 but was basically nonexistant in their 2009 run. It makes sense to say that too.
They obviously have the offense to beat anyone and even if one or two players are going through a rough patch, the other hitters will have their backs. In Roy Halladay they also have the ace that will guarantee to keep the team in the game. They had that last year in Lee but one of the biggest reasons they couldn’t get it done was the performance of Hamels and the other starters. They just didn’t compare to the Yankee’s rotation. If they are going to win the World Series they need Hamels to be a solid number 2.
Last night was our first glimpse of him and it left us with many questions. He had trouble with command and couldn’t close out innings. He gave up most of his runs with 2 outs.Early in the game, when the Phillies would get small leads, he would give them up. In my opinion, he’s lucky they were playing the Nationals because most of the good teams in the league would have taken advantage of that.
He ended up with the win and now has an era of3.6 but there’s no doubt that there’s room for major improvement. He only went 5 innings but Manuel has faith that if he gets his control down, he can last deeper into the games. It’s still too early to judge the guy and you can’t complain about a win but Hamel’s next few starts will tell us a lot about the year to come.
