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A Quick Glance at Cole Hamels' First 2010 Start Through the Eyes of Pitch f/x

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There are several sites that can be used to collect the pitch f/x numbers and graphs, and several of those have not updated as of yet [10:45AM-ish], but some have, and I wanted to point something out while we wait for the rest.  Take a look at Cole Hamels release points for the three [yes, three] types of pitches he threw last night, the fast ball, curve ball and of course the money pitch, the change up.

via TexasLeaguers.com 

The blue diamonds represent Cole's curveballs, and as you can see, his release point remains higher for that pitch than the change and fastball.  He had similar issues last year too, take a look:

Again, the blue diamonds tend to drift a bit higher than the other release points do.  Not always, but there is a definite tendency there.  If I'm an opposing hitter, that might be something I'm looking for.

As for the pitch types, as I mentioned above, there were only three, and the data does not show the cutter that was advertised during spring training.  However, I felt quite certain he threw a few, so did the broadcast team, and it was mentioned in this morning's game stories too.

Frankly, I tend to believe the stories and our eyes before the pitch f/x data.  Pitch f/x is great at recording spin, velocity, etc., but the algorithms that classify the pitches isn't quite ready for prime time.  BUT, what you might be able to discern from the ambiguity is that maybe Cole's cutter isn't cutting as much as we'd all like. 

Hamels, Myers Verbally Spar [Updated]

Make no mistake, the real story this morning is how Chase Utley and Cliff Lee threw the hopes of a repeat World Series title on their backs and extended the series for at least one, hopefully two, games in New York.

Chase Utley had two home runs and Lee lasted 7 innings against a relentless Yankee lineup.  No matter how the series turns out, we'll talk about how those two have performed to our grandchildren.

But what will also make headlines this morning is a story about two Phillies players who have had more of a love/hate relationship with fans.  According to a Yahoo! Sports report, Brett Myers and Cole Hamels got into a bit of a verbal altercation over Cole's "just put me out of my misery"-type comments following Game 4.

As Myers walked past Hamels near Hamels’ locker he said, mocking, “What are you doing here? I thought you quit.”

Hamels, the witness said, responded with an expletive.

Before the situation escalated, Myers was guided away by a team official.

It's an easy story to believe, after all, Brett Myers and Cole Hamels definitely operate on two entirely different plane of existence.  Brett has tattoos, Cole has delicate bangs.  Brett shoots first, asks questions later while Cole wouldn't pull a trigger without 4 days of rest.

The true personality of the team is really somewhere in the middle and while I'm glad somebody said something to Cole, I'd be more curious to see how Chase Utley or Jamie Moyer or Charlie Manuel or Jimmy Rollins would have handled it [or, for all we know, did handle it].

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Update: Multiple sources are now debunking the story above. Not sure who to believe at this point. My guess is that Myers did actually say that to Hamels, but jokingly, and Hamels took it that way.

Cole Hamels Can't Wait for this Season to be Over

He actually said that.

He actually said that.

And then chuckled.

This comes from Cole's post-game meet-up with the press, after he gave up 5 runs in 4 1/3 innings in Game 3 of the World Series.  He also threw in that he is anxious for a fresh start.

Tell you what Cole, why don't you just go home now.

Pitching Staffs Evenly Matched for World Series

As was the case in comparing the Phillies' and the Yankees' offenses, the two clubs' differences in leagues and ballparks makes it difficult to compare the performances of players.  Therefore, we resort to ERA+, which takes out those two factors, and normalizes ERA [100 is average].  Click the graphic to enlarge. 

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com

For the season in its entirety, the two staffs are very evenly matched in terms of pitching and defense [ERA and ERA+ being dependent on defense].  However, these numbers include Brad Lidge's putrid regular season.  If, and this is a big if, Lidge has regained even some semblance of his 2008 season, then the pendulum, in this area, may swing back to the Phillies.

As you can see, only three pitchers were included in the graphic under the Yankees starting staff column.  They've only used these three in the playoffs, leaving Chad Gaudin and Joba Chamberlain in the bullpen.

Speaking of the bullpen, that's where this series could get decided.  Mariano Rivera has been a rock in the end of the Yankees bullpen for 15 years and shows no signs of slowing down.  In the Game 6 clincher, Yankees manager Joe Girardi called on Rivera to get the final 6 outs and he did just that.  Who knows how the ebbs and flows of a 7-game series will go, but at this point, it would behoove the Phillies to hold the lead in games before the 8th inning.

Keep Your Head in the Game Tonight Young Colbert

A Brief History of Cole Hamels

Broken pitching arm while pitching in high school... Drafted by Phillies... Broken pitching hand in bar fight... Lights up minors... Promoted to Phillies... Overdresses for first playoff start, loses... Dominates 2008 post-season and wins World Series... Carries fluffy dog in backpack around Center City...  Wife goes into labor during his start in Game 2 of NLDS...

Quite a short history for a 25-year old.

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Update:

The Missus:  His wife went into labor, what do you want him to do?

Me:  Sleep in another room back in January.

Key for Cole's Daytime Troubles? [Mailbag]

As many of you know, Cole Hamels daytime ERA is almost a run and a half higher than his night-game ERA.  Reader Jim B. emailed with an interesting theory:

You may recall that we corresponded about Hamels’ day-night record, and that his record is much worse in day games. This morning on [ESPN Radio's] Mike&Mike, Rick Sutcliffe said that it is easier to pick up his change up in daytime. Hopefully, the shadows will help him today.

Sutcliffe might not be the best announcer we've ever heard, but that doesn't mean he doesn't know pitching.  He may be on to something.  Hopefully for us and Hamels and the Phillies, he is.

The Emasculation of Cole Hamels

The first time you ever heard of Cole Hamels was when the Phillies drafted him in the first round back in 2002.  You were probably slightly impressed by the scouting reports but thought, eh, he's a long way off.

The next time you heard of Cole Hamels was when he got into a bar fight in 2004 and broke his pitching hand.  At that point, half of your mind thought he was an idiot for breaking his pitching hand in a bar fight, the other half of your brain thought it was pretty cool he didn't care.

The third time you heard of Cole Hamels was during the 2006 season when he was tearing up the minor leagues like Tiger Woods would do at the local firehouse charity tournament and word was that his significant-other was Heidi Stroebel of Survivor and Playboy-fame.  Now you were really taking notice and spent hours a day thinking of witty submissions to colehamelsfacts.com.  Ever since then, the young man has been firmly in your consciousness as one of most important pieces of the promising Phillies, all the way through the 2008 post-season when he led the Phillies to the World Series and was named MVP-of-Everything.

But ever since then, that gorgeous fall day in October, when Cole Hamels told Phillies fans everywhere that he couldn't wait to do it gain, the poor guy has been stripped of everything that made him Cole Hamels.

Lets face it, Hamels has never been the most alpha-male of athletes, but that Peter Brady-in-puberty voice that he had, his thin-as-a-toothpick frame, and the "Hollywood" nickname bestowed by his teammates made him a bit quirky, and as long as there were championships on the horizon, you could live with quirky.

However, 2009 has brought Cole to a whole level way beyond quirky.  We might even go so far as to say that at the hands of his wife Heidi [because really, who else would do such a thing...], Cole has been... emasculated?

Here's what's happened since Cole's on-top-of-the-world winter ended:

• Heidi accepted his prize for being the World Series MVP -- a Camaro muscle-car -- for him.

• Went on television and spoke of "ginormous creatures" that live under the sea.

• Carried a tiny, fluffy puppy in a backpack?!?!

• Worst of all, his ERA has been much closer to 5.00 for most of the season than 4.00

[above events courtesy of the archives at The Fightins, because really, no one keeps track of these types of things any better]

Thankfully, Hamels' last three starts have been more of what we're used to from the Californian, a 1.57 ERA.  So just when things are beginning to look good again, along comes this... [brace yourself]

He's Ba-aaaaack

Don't ask where he went, don't ask why he came back, just be glad Cole Hamels... is back.

He's rattled off 19 consecutive scoreless innings and in his last two starts has 17 innings pitched, one complete game, 16 strikeouts, only 3 walks and only 9 hits allowed.  It's been a thing of beauty to watch.  Carlos Ruiz sets up on the outside corner and a split second later, the ball that was once in King Cole's fingers is dancing right into Chooch's mitt.

Don't look know, but things are really coming together for defending World Champions.  More thoughts below.

What's Wrong With Cole Hamels

Seriously, I'm asking you, what is wrong with Cole Hamels?  I can't figure it out.

I have some guesses, such as a hangover from his 2008 success, or a hangover from his 2008 workload, or an injury, or some bad luck, or, a combination of all of the above.

Here's what I do know though, and you probably do too...

...In the time it takes Cole Hamels to dispose of a batter, you have enough time [at least I do] to go to the kitchen, reach for a beer, see that there is none, go outside, open the garage door, go to the backup fridge, and make two or three trips inside to restock the kitchen fridge.  Then you check and see that the count is at 2-2 and that some no-name is fouling off pitch after pitch, so you go searching for a bottle opener, find one, open the beer, and see that the count is now 3-2 and the player-to-be-named-later is still fouling off pitches.

...Cole's body language is not good.  To borrow a phrase from the Dog Whisperer, "he ees not BAL-anced."  If he thinks he's getting squeezed by the umpire or a weak groundball miraculously finds its way between infielders, Hamels stomps around the mound like a kid denied his video games.

...In a combination of those first two points, Hamels works to batters slower than he used to do.  When Hamels first came into the league, and even last year, he'd get the ball, get the sign, and go.  Now, when he gets the ball back from the catcher, he heads back to the rubber like someone waiting in a long teller line, weaving back and forth.

Back in 2006, when Hamels was tearing his way through the minor leagues and before he was brought up to the majors, Pat Gillick, then the Phillies general manager, said that he would like to see Hamels struggle a bit before they brought him up.  The thinking was that the organization wanted to see how he handled adversity.

But as we all know, that adversity never really came, and Hamels never really had to work through it.  He continued to mow batters down, was brought up to the Phillies shortly thereafter and continued successfully right through winning the 2008 World Series Most-Valuable Player award.

So now we're finally seeing some adversity for Cole Hamels.  His ERA sits at 4.78 and while win/loss records don't carry a ton of weight, he does have a losing record, 7-8.  The question becomes, at this point, with 5 weeks or so left in the regular season ends and the playoffs begin, how will Cole Hamels respond?

Phillies Hitting on All Cylinders

Two months ago, at the On-Deck Series at Citizens Bank Park prior to the official start of the regular season, phlogosphere regular “MPN” and I sat in the Diamond Club ate cheesesteaks, drank cold beer, and fantasized what the Phillies could do to other teams if their hitting and pitching ever excelled at the same.

Flash-forward two months and we’re seeing just that and behold the awesomeness.  Over the last twenty games, the Phillies are 16-4, have won their last seven and have opened up a 4-game lead in the National League East.  During that 20-game span, the Phillies have averaged 5.8 runs per game and have allowed only 4.05.  The team’s 20-game ERA is 3.86.

What often goes unnoticed in stretches of great play such as this is defense.  As good as Cole Hamels was last night in his incredibly efficient complete-game shut-out, his defense bailed him out more than a few times.

Similar to the way the offense has mashed all season long, the team’s defense has been there too.  The Phillies lead all of baseball in fielding percentage at .991 and advanced range statistics indicate the team is slightly above average.

When your offense, defense and pitching are at their peak all at the same time, great things happen, and as MPN said in a missive last night, it sure makes staying up late to watch these West Coast games a lot more fun.

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By the way, check back here often, particularly during games, and take a look at the "Micro-missives" section in the upper right-hand portion of the site.  Typically there is running commentary and if you are a Twitter user, you can follow these missives [@ballsticksstuff (three "s", not four)].

Examining Cole Hamels' Fastball Velocity

Much has been made of Cole Hamels' lack of velocity so far in this young season, which has featured only two starts by the reigning World Series Most Valuable Player.  The truth of the matter is, Hamels' fastball is travelling at pretty much the same rate it did last year at this time.

Take a gander at this graph from the ever-improving, ever-expanding Fangraphs.com:

Medical Analysis of Hamels Elbow

The Disabled List Informer spells it out:

He underwent a MRI and a dynamic Ultrasound test that revealed no structural issues, so this was likely a case of muscle soreness. He was administered some anti-inflammatory medication via injection at the posterior-lateral aspect of the elbow. Due to the location of the injection, it could indicate that it was either the Triceps or the Anconeus (which shares its insertion on the posterior capsule of the elbow) muscle that was involved in the soreness. Both of these muscles act to extend (straighten) the elbow during the pitching motion. This is good news, as the Ulnar Collateral ligament is not involved. The UCL resides in the medial aspect of the elbow, not the lateral aspect.

As for Hamels readiness for Opening Day, pitching coach Rich Dubee indicated yesterday that it will be "a long shot".  The Phillies don't feel they will be able to get Hamels stretched out by April 5th.  However, given the number of off days early in April, it's unlikely that the Phillies will have to replace Hamels in the rotation.

The Record Screeches to a Halt: Cole Hamels Experiencing Elbow Soreness

Andy Martino, the Inqy's new beat writer has the report:

Cole Hamels will leave Clearwater tonight for the Philadelphia area to have his left elbow examined tomorrow by team doctor Michael Ciccotti. Amaro said that Hamels’ had complained of “a little bit of a persistent soreness” in the elbow. “We thought it was important at this time for Dr. Ciccotti to check it out,” Amaro said, while downplaying his concern.

And what was I just saying was my biggest concern about the Phillies?  As I wrote on Friday:

When people ask what my biggest concern is in regards to the Phillies as they prepare to defend their title as World Champions, my usual answer has something to do with Cole Hamels. The total number of innings he threw in 2008 dwarfs the total of 2007. Typically, when a player has an increase like that, the likelihood of arm troubles the next year similarly increases.

I'm finding it hard to swallow right now. This is probably bad karma coming around from my amusement when Johan Sanata reported arm trouble a week or two ago.

Phillies Catching Up on the Golf They Didn't Play in October

A few days ago Jimmy Rollins was caught on tape taking golf lessons.  Now, video is emerging of the Phillies annual team golf tournament, filmed by none other than the Flyin' Hawaiian.  A brief synopsis of the clip:

• Lots of haphazard driving in golf carts.
• Cole Hamels shanking a tee-shot and then dropping a bleeped expletive [had it been Chase Utley, would they have not bleeped it?]
• Cole Hamels slicing a tee shot.
• John Daly showing up to play in the group. 

[Link: Spring scenes: Phillies OF Victorino goes golfing - USATODAY.com.]

Pitching, Pitching, Pitching: News on Romero, Hamels and Madson

First and foremost, it seems as if Ryan Madson reads this here website.  After all, I had hardly hit the publish button on a post questioning Madson's judgment on turning down a 3-year, $12 million deal from the Phillies when news came that Madson had decided to take the Phillies up on a very similar deal.

It's a good move on Madson's part to take the money and run.  What's interesting from the Phillies standpoint is how many of the important parts of the team are signing on for multiple years.  Seems to me the Phillies should be competitive at the very least for years to come.