Hard Luck Hamels
(Source: AP)
The story of the 2010 season continued for Cole Hamels last night. He did not pitch well in this outing, but again received literally no run support.
Here are the results since his start vs the Reds on July 11th:
- 7/11 – 1-0 win vs Reds on 7/11 – Win for Hamels.
- 7/17 – 4-1 win vs Cubs on 7/17 – No Decision for Hamels. 0 runs scored while he was pitching. Phils rallied for 4 runs in 9th inning.
- 7/22 – 2-0 win vs Cardinals. No Decision for Hamels. Phils won in extra innings.
- 7/27 – 9-5 win vs D-Backs on 7/27 – No Decision for Hamels. He left after 5 innings with 4-3 lead. The bullpen blew the lead before Phils came back and won late.
- 8/1 – 6-4 win vs Nats on 8/1 – No Decision for Hamels. He left after 7 innings with game tied at 4. Phils won in extra innings.
- 8/7 – 1-0 loss to Mets on 8/7 – Loss for Hamels
- 8/13 – 1-0 loss to Mets on 8/13 – Loss for Hamels
- 8/19 – 5-2 loss to Giants on 8/19 – Loss for Hamels. A rare bad outing as he left after 5 with 5 runs allowed, but 0 runs scored for him while he was pitching.
In his last 8 starts, Hamels has gone 1-3 with four no decisions. Cole has allowed a total of 15 runs in those starts and yet only has the 1 win to show for it. That's because the Phils have combined to score a mere 9 runs for him while he was still pitching in those games. It'd be nice to pitch with a lead once in a while. You know deep down he has to be pissed off when he sees Blanton and Kendrick getting huge run support some outings.
I have been tough on Hamels the last few years, probably unfairly in some cases. But I have to admit he's been almost as good this season as he was 2 years ago and it's a shame he doesn't have a better record to show for it. If you had told me before the season that in the middle of August Hamels will have been healthy all season with an ERA of 3.51 and a strikeout/walk ratio of better than 3 to 1, with this offense I'd have thought his record would be something like 14-7 right now instead of 7-10.
I made a half-assed prediction in during spring training after many beers one night that Jamie Moyer would finish with more wins than Hamels this year. Right now Moyer still leads 9 to 7 and he hasn't pitched in a month due to a season-ending arm injury. This is one prediction I really hope I end up being wrong about.