Cole Hamels didn't speak to reporters before he left the clubhouse yesterday, which somebody is going to try to make into a big deal. After all, part of a player's job is to stand there and answer questions, win or lose. So, taken out of context, Hamels looks like a jerk.
But.
There's lose and then there's lose, and when "lose" translates to "do your job holding down the other guys only to watch your supposedly offense fail to offer any kind of resistance and your bullpen implode against a team that theoretically would come in sixth in the ACC", then "lose" is something to get mad over. Especially when this happens over and over, as it seems to where Mr. Hamels is involved. After yesterday's debacle, the Phillies have given him a grand total of 20 runs' worth of offense this season. Or, to put it another way, one and a half bad Roy Halladay starts. So as far as I'm concerned he gets a mulligan for this one, even if part of the reason the opposing pitcher was so effective was that he was loading up the ball with slobber.
But there's a bigger lesson for the Phillies here than "why don't you try scoring some runs, I hear it's nice".
If you're even going to start thinking about yourself as a good baseball team, there are simple things you need to do - like beat bad baseball teams. Like beat the Miami Marlins. Good baseball teams do not roll into Jeffty Loria's wretched mallpark after a miracle comeback against Aroldis Chapman and then get thumped by the AAA lineup the Marlins are running out there.
Teams that do this, by definition, are not good teams.
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