Rosters are expanded, further skewing the box scores. So don't believe anything you see when school is back in session and there is just a touch of autumn chill accenting the evening air. Baseball's trash can is overflowing with players who made a big splash in the final month, then disappeared almost without a trace. Glug, glug.
There are exceptions to every rule, of course, and for the Phillies these include Cole Hamels and Brad Lidge. They were bright and shining stars in that championship season whose brightness has flickered in the year after.
For them, given their track records, September is an opportunity. Not for redemption, exactly, but at least for a chance to remove the invisible question mark from beside their names as the Phillies gird for a shot at defending their title.
Hamels took a large stride in that direction last night with a complete-game, 1-0 win over the Giants. He allowed just two hits and has now pitched 19 straight scoreless innings.
To be fair, the 25-year-old lefty who now is 8-8 with a 4.26 earned run average hadn't been horrid previously. He has had his moments. But not nearly as many as he had last year, when he established himself as the staff ace and topped it off with a flourish, being voted MVP of both the NLCS and the World Series.
Last night had reverberations beyond those couple of hours on the mound. He was coming off one of his better efforts of the season, eight shutout innings at Pittsburgh. Another strong performance would give the Phillies reason to hope that he is finding himself just in time for the most important part of the schedule.
Granted, he was up against a Giants team that ranks near the bottom of the league in homers and runs scored . . . and was playing with third baseman Pablo Sandoval (tight calf) and catcher Bengie Molina (tight quad) limited to pinch-hitting.
And, granted, the Pirates don't remind anybody of the 1927 Yankees.
