The Once and Future King

By Amy McCormick

I’d like to begin this post by clarifying that I cannot stand females who watch baseball or choose a favorite player because someone is attractive.  It’s a huge pet peeve of mine.  For those of you who know me, you know that I know a little bit about Phillies baseball.  That being said, I’ve been having a love affair with Cole Hamels since 2007.  He just doesn’t know about it.

Fans seem to go back and forth when it comes to Hamels, but I’ve always had faith in him.  I’ll group his seasons the way that a lot of us group fans: pre-2008 and 2008 – present. 

2006 – 2007  Cole made his Major League debut with the Phillies on May 12, 2006.  He posted 9 wins and 8 losses that season with a 4.08 ERA.  Not exactly stellar, but for a rookie, those are respectable numbers.  In 2007, Cole won 15 games and lost 5, with an ERA of 3.39.  It was then that people started to take notice of the lefty. 

2008  Hamels posted a 14-10 season with a 3.09 ERA in 2008.  In the National League, he was first in WHIP (Walks and Hits per Innings Pitched) with 1.082.  He won the National League Babe Ruth Award and became an instant fan favorite.  Suddenly, everyone loved Cole.  He was our ace, and we all had confidence each time he took the mound.  In the postseason, he won four games and lost none.  This earned him the MVP awards for both the NLCS and the World Series.

2009  This was the year that fans dropped Hamels like a hot potato.  He seemed to be in a funk all season, winning 10 games and losing 11.  His ERA was a career-high 4.32.  “Fans” wanted him to be traded.  A lot of people didn’t realize that a) he was only 25 years old, and b) the skills he had shown the three previous seasons were not a fluke.  I don’t have a scientific reason for why he had a season-long slump; however, I knew he would rebound.  People tried to make sense of his bad season.  “He has a 2008 hangover.” “His head’s not in the game because his wife is pregnant.” I heard a lot of off-the-wall reasoning.  Truth be told, none of us knows what happened with him in 2009.  Even with two postseason wins, Philadelphians wanted Cole gone.

2010  I hoped that Hamels would re-emerge last season as the ace that I know he is.  His pitching was on point, although his win-loss record doesn’t reflect it.  Offense gave Cole no run support, so even with a 3.06 ERA and a new pitch – a nasty cutter – there were games that he should have won.  He tweaked his mechanics, and right-handed batters suddenly didn’t have him all figured out.  His average WHIP over five seasons is 1.176, and in 2010 it was 1.179.  It was last season that the Hamels Bandwagon loaded up again, and people came out of the woodwork to cheer him on.  The best way to sum up Cole’s 2010 season is to say that he did his job, but the offense fell short.  He won one game in the NLDS against the Reds, assisting the team in their advance to the NLCS.

2011  What can we expect from Mr. Hamels in 2011?  I’ll admit that this is mostly my opinion.  I think we’ll see batters guessing, because Cole will use all four of his pitches.  He has improved the velocity of his fastball; it used to be around 90 mph and now is consistently 92 mph (sometimes getting to 96 mph).  His curveball needs some improvement, but of course, there’s his cutter and change-up.  I think he’ll continue to be more and more unhittable.  I predict an ERA between 3.00 and 3.25 and 14 wins.

As part of such an outstanding rotation, Cole Hamels will surely attract more and more fans this season, even in such great company.  I look forward to seeing him pitch well into October.  As the youngest of the five starters, Hamels has a bright future ahead.  I plan to enjoy being his biggest fan (and girlfriend) for years to come.