Oct 23 2008
Phillies’ Ignore Predictions, Take Game 1 of World Series
After Cole Hamels had pitched the Philadelphia Phillies to a 3-2 victory in the World Series opener on Wednesday night, ESPN’s Jayson Stark was impressed enough to call Hamels “arguably the best starting pitcher on either team in this world series”. He went on to note that Hamels just became the 10th pitcher ever to win 4 games in the same postseason, and that if he wins again this series, he’ll be the only starter ever to win 5. So, Jayson…what’s left to argue?
Well, when you’ve spent the lead-up to the World Series claiming the Phillies were hopelessly overmatched and would be too rusty to put up much of a showing in game 1, like ESPN’s commentators did, admitting that Hamels has been an absolute ace this whole postseason would be too close to admitting they were wrong in picking Tampa Bay to take the opener and the series.
I predicted a Phillies victory, because there really is nothing left to argue about Cole Hamels. Oh, sure, rust was going to be a factor. You don’t take a week off from playoff baseball and not feel some type of hang-over when you get back on the field, especially against a World-Series caliber team. And The Phillies showed that rust, going 0 for 13 with runners in scoring position. Their offense came on a 2-run homer in the 1st by Chase Utley, and in the 4th when a groundout scored Shane Victorino. But Cole Hamels was their starting pitcher, and this October, he’s made a leap into the category of dominance inhabited by the likes of CC Sabathia and Johan Santana. Neither of those teams are still playing. The Phils are. And a big part of that reason is Hamels. The experts should have seen his game 1 performance coming, because they’d already seen it 3 times previously this October.
While Scott Kazmir certainly didn’t pitch a bad game, he was haunted by a ghost that’s been familiar to him this season, the ghost of control problems. They came out early, when in the 1st he walked Jason Werth, and was promptly made to pay for it by Utley.
The starters for game 2 tonight will be Brett Myers for the Philies, who has had his own control problems this postseason. In spite of a 2-0 mark so far, he has a 5.25 ERA and has walked 7 in 12 innings. The Rays will counter with James Shields, 1-2 with a 3.72 ERA in 3 playoff starts.
One Response to “Phillies’ Ignore Predictions, Take Game 1 of World Series”
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I wasn’t surprised to see the Rays lose game one with Cole Hamels on the mound. I figure in this series every time he pitches the Phillies will win. It’s going to be up to the other pitchers on the team to step up if they won’t to win this series.