Baseball is a sprint, not a marathon. At least once the postseason begins.
So when Cole Hamels, who started and pitched two shutout innings in yesterday's regular-season finale against the Braves, was asked if he looks at the gauntlet ahead and considers anything short of a second world championship in 3 years a disappointment, he didn't blink.
"Yeah, you have to," he said matter-of-factly. "To be in the category of being the greatest, the best, you have to prove it. You can't have the team that woulda, shoulda, coulda. A lot of people can talk about how great a team was, but if you don't have anything to show for it, then it's really hard to convince people."
The biggest reason so many pundits like the Phillies' chances is reflected by the fact that Hamels finished with a career-low 3.06 earned run average and a career-high 211 strikeouts . . . and still won't start until Game 3 of the National League Division Series next Sunday in Cincinnati.
Having Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt in the same rotation can do that to a fellow. Hamels joked that if he had been told a year ago that he would be teammates with two such dominant pitchers, he would have expected it to be an All-Star Game.
"It puts our team in the best scenario. To have guys that can each start a Game 1, that just instills confidence in each other and, hopefully, in our offense," he said. "Knowing that any one of us can get the job done and do a very good job. But we have to get the job done."
It doesn't hurt that, in a best-of-five series, the third game will be crucial no matter what happens in Halladay's and Oswalt's starts. If the Phillies split at The Bank, a Hamels win would reclaim homefield advantage. If they're down 0-2, he needs to win to stave off elimination. And if they win the first two, he's in a position to pitch the clincher.
