During last year’s World Series, Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels was hardly caught up in all the postseason hoopla facing the New York Yankees.
“I can’t wait for it to end,” Hamels said of the 2009 season. “It’s been mentally draining.”
Hamels didn’t have to say a word, though, for anyone to realize that the last place he wanted to be last fall was on the mound facing the Yankees in the World Series. He had the worst body language I’ve ever seen in a baseball player.
In Game 3 of the series, Hamels was on the mound and enjoying the benefit of having his team jump out to a 3-0 lead after two innings. But as the Phillies were celebrating in the dugout, the television cameras showed Hamels in the background, with a look of concern on his face, as if thinking, “Three runs isn’t going to do it today for us, boys. Better score more.”
Hamels was right, as it turned out. The Yankees went on to win the game 8-5 and the series in six games.
This year, however, there is no place where Hamels would rather be than on the mound Tuesday night for Game 3 of the National League Championship Series, now tied at 1-1, facing the San Francisco Giants.
Last year has ended, and doesn’t even exist anymore, in Hamels’ mind.
“I already put that one behind me in November,” Hamels said. “So this is just a year that I’m going out there and trying to be the best I possibly can. And it’s something — to be able to be in the postseason, I think, is something that I’m just trying to do the job that I know I’m capable of doing, and having my teammates support me all the way.”
That’s an answer that clearly comes from working during the offseason with a California sports therapist — don’t dwell on your failures and don’t magnify the task at hand. Hamels certainly doesn’t talk like someone who wants the season to be over.
Hamels has pitched like someone who wants the ball in situations like this — good news for the Phillies, because the difference this year between another championship and another runner-up finish could be his healthy mental approach.
He pitched tough down the stretch, with an ERA of 1.93 in September. He was lights-out in his 2-0, five-hit shutout win over the Cincinnati Reds in the National League Division Series.
The Phillies hype may all be about their two Roys — Halladay and Oswalt — but the difference maker will be Hamels, who was the 2008 World Series Most Valuable Player.
If the 26-year-old lefty can come away with a win Tuesday night against another formidable pitcher, San Francisco’s Matt Cain, then the Phillies will win this series. Cole Hamels will take that. After all, this year he doesn’t want the season to end.
Examiner columnist Thom Loverro is the co-host of “The Sports Fix” from noon to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on ESPN 980 and espn980.com. Contact him at [email protected]
