15 years. That’s how long it was between post-season wins for the Phillies. It was Oct. 21, 1993, Game 5 of the World Series, when Curt Schilling blew away the Toronto Blue Jays at the Vet to send the series back to Toronto.
Unfortunately, we all know what happened in Game 6. Remember Joe Carter? How can any Phillies fan forget him.
The Phillies have been looking for an ace ever since Schilling moved on to greener pastures.
Yesterday they just may have found him.
You can call him King Cole. Cole Hamels, the cool California left-hander, was everything you could want in a staff ace in blowing away the Milwaukee Brewers.
Ever since the Phils successfully defended their NL East title Saturday, thereby allowing Hamels the luxury of skipping a Sunday start and resting that golden left arm, he has been the man in the spotlight.
Game One is key, they said. Hamels needs to come up big.
On Wednesday, Hamels delivered.
Hamels put the hammer down on the Brewers and staked the Phils to a 1-0 lead in this short, best-of-5 sprint they call the NLDS.
All Hamels did was shut down the Brewers on two hits. He struck out nine in eight innings. The Brewers only got one batter as far as second base. And just as there were so often back in 1993 when Mitch ‘Wild Thing’ Williams stalked onto the mound, there were probably a few hearts in fans’ throats yesterday courtesy of a scary ninth by Brad Lidge. In fact, there likely is no shortage of fans still scratching their heads at manager Charlie Manuel’s decision to lift Hamels after 8.
That doesn’t matter this morning. What does is that the Phils got a 3-1 win.
In doing so they managed to win a playoff game for the first time in ages. Actually 15 years to be exact. And that’s in large part due to one person.
King Cole Hamels.
Unfortunately, we all know what happened in Game 6. Remember Joe Carter? How can any Phillies fan forget him.
The Phillies have been looking for an ace ever since Schilling moved on to greener pastures.
Yesterday they just may have found him.
You can call him King Cole. Cole Hamels, the cool California left-hander, was everything you could want in a staff ace in blowing away the Milwaukee Brewers.
Ever since the Phils successfully defended their NL East title Saturday, thereby allowing Hamels the luxury of skipping a Sunday start and resting that golden left arm, he has been the man in the spotlight.
Game One is key, they said. Hamels needs to come up big.
On Wednesday, Hamels delivered.
Hamels put the hammer down on the Brewers and staked the Phils to a 1-0 lead in this short, best-of-5 sprint they call the NLDS.
All Hamels did was shut down the Brewers on two hits. He struck out nine in eight innings. The Brewers only got one batter as far as second base. And just as there were so often back in 1993 when Mitch ‘Wild Thing’ Williams stalked onto the mound, there were probably a few hearts in fans’ throats yesterday courtesy of a scary ninth by Brad Lidge. In fact, there likely is no shortage of fans still scratching their heads at manager Charlie Manuel’s decision to lift Hamels after 8.
That doesn’t matter this morning. What does is that the Phils got a 3-1 win.
In doing so they managed to win a playoff game for the first time in ages. Actually 15 years to be exact. And that’s in large part due to one person.
King Cole Hamels.
Comments