PROGRAMMING NOTE: We are going LIVE during the second game of the day-night doubleheader against the Brewers. With no local television broadcast available and limited terrestrial radio outside of the Philadelphia region, I will give inning-by-inning synopses during the night cap. The format will be similar to past live offerings, though we may attempt to sneak in a little extra fun with a chat or something like that. Anyway, be sure to dial it up or go to CSN for the latest.
Back to your regularly scheduled post...
Cole Hamels isn't shy about telling people what he wants to achieve during his baseball career. Ask him and he'll say he wants to have a career as long as Jamie Moyer. Hamels also wants to pitch a few no-hitters, take home a bunch of Cy Young Awards and be enshrined in the Hall of Fame when it's all over.
Certainly such claims can sound boastful when read in print, but that's hardly the case when Hamels says it. In fact, it comes out rather matter-of-factly, as if it's a typical cliché answer to a regular old question.
Yeah, I'm going to take it one day at a time and hopefully I'll be in the Hall of Fame.
But Hamels is wise enough to understand that legacies and greatness are not contrived solely from the numbers on the stat page. After all, anyone can pile up numbers. That's easy. The true test is delivering in the really big games when post-season glory is on the line.
Hamels hasn't had too many chances in so-called clutch starts, but the four he has pitched in run the gamut. Last Sunday at Shea Stadium Hamels came back on short rest with a chance to pitch the Phillies into a first-place tie with the Mets on national TV, but came up with a real clunker in a 6-3 loss. Needless to say, a win in that game could have gone a long way for the Phillies.
Prior to last Sunday's big thud, Hamels was both awful and brilliant in Game 1 of last season's NLDS. After a rough and sweaty second inning in which the Rockies put the Phillies in a deep hole, Hamels rebounded to retire 13 in a row and 15 of the final 16 hitters he faced.
Saturday afternoon's victory over the free-falling Brewers wasn't as great as the Sept. 28, 2007 outing in which Hamels whiffed 13 hitters and put the Phillies into first place, but definitely was clutch. Knowing that his season will be remembered for what he does these last two weeks, Hamels needed 113 pitches to grind out 6 1/3 innings to beat the Brewers for his 13th win. But in doing so he gave the Phillies a chance to move into a first-place tie in the wild-card race as early as Sunday night.
"It's all about the team and the win, especially now," Hamels said.
"We want to play in October. We don't want to be going home. Guys are kicking it in."
Most notably (and it's about time!) two of the guys kicking it in are Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins.
Rollins has had some nice Septembers in the last few years like when he put together that epic hitting streak and surged to the MVP Award. Luckily for the Phillies, he is at it again. In 11 games this month, Rollins is batting .362 with two homers, seven RBIs and a .417 on-base percentage.
In 2005 Howard set the rookie record for most homers during September and might be making a case for a second MVP Award this month. So far Howard has six homers, 17 RBIs and a .366 batting average. In doing that, Howard became the first player to pile up three straight 130-plus RBI seasons since Sammy Sosa from 1998 to 2001.
"There's definitely more emphasis on things that are done in September," Rollins said. "This last month, that's all people are going to be talking about."
Yes. Yes they are.
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Beg, borrow, buy or steal a copy of the book Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. Quite simply, the novel is a masterwork and a once-in-an-era work by a writer whose life ended way, way too short. Luckily for us, his work remains.