I’m looking through you, where did you go? I thought I knew you, what did I know? You don’t look different, but you have changed. I’m looking through you, you’re not the same. -The Beatles
Public Service Announcement: Ok, here we go! Last year, at about this time, I was writing things like Cole Hamels: King Of The Hill. I was writing things like, “Any time you see Cole strutting out to the mound to the musical stylings of AC/DC, you can expect a win. Things like, “The man is a fierce competitor who attacks the strike zone with all his pitches.” Oh what a difference a year makes. This is not the same Cole Hamels. This is not my beautiful house. This is not my beautiful wife. Where is that large automobile? Where does that highway lead to?
This post season, that highway leads straight to Hell in a handbasket. Last night, for three innings, Cole Hamels was the Cole Hamels we all knew and loved. But then, in the fourth inning, Cole Hamels threw a 3-2 fastball down and in to Mark Teixeira, and that was all she wrote. That was the beginning of the end.
That’s the way it’s been for Hamels this whole post season. He has allowed seven ding dongs this postseason. He has allowed at least one ding dong in each of his four starts. That’s bad. That’s really bad. So bad in fact, it ties him for the most ding dongs allowed by any pitcher in one postseason. It ties him with Eric Show of the 1984 Padres. It ties him with Scott Garrelts of the 1989 Giants. It ties him with your boy, Andy Pettitte, of the 1996 Yankees. And it ties him with my boy, Josh Beckett, of the 2008 Red Sox.
In one short year, Cole Hamels has gone from ace to the opposite of what it means to be an ace. Hamels: “That’s the story of my season. I can cruise through hitters and boom!” Boom indeed. Boom goes the dynamite. Boom goes the Phillies hopes and dreams. Boom goes Cole Hamels.
Public Spectacle:
[pro-player width='455' height='253' type='video']http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0pKTIaql4c[/pro-player]
Peace out homies. Six two and Even!
Need More? Cole Hamels, MLB, Philadelphia Phillies
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