The lanky lefthander represented everything good about the 2008 championship season. His struggles in 2009 were maddening, and so was the endgame for the Phillies.
On Sunday, when Scott Rolen swung and missed at Hamels' 119th pitch of the night, a 95-m.p.h. fastball, the pitcher modestly pumped his fist. There was no raucous celebration. This was just the fulfillment of expectations.
Now they wait. The Phillies' next game won't come for six days. Game 1 of the National League Championship Series will be Saturday at Citizens Bank Park against the Giants or Braves.
The Phillies won three games in five days and had just four extra-base hits in three games. The Reds made seven errors. Cincinnati had just 11 hits, tying a new low in a division series.
The Big Three certainly passed their first postseason test. Roy Halladay threw a no-hitter. Roy Oswalt was shaky but didn't let the game unravel even without his best stuff. And not to be forgotten was Hamels, arguably the team's best starter during the second half of the season.
But when he took the mound Sunday, it had been 20 days since he had pitched more than four innings in a game. And although Hamels had been so good during October 2008, he had failed to pitch beyond 51/3 innings last postseason. In four 2009 playoff starts, he had a 7.58 ERA.
His fastball was sharp Sunday. He relied heavily on it. But the most important pitch of the night was a change-up to Joey Votto, the presumptive National League MVP. Votto represented the tying run with one out in the ninth.
Hamels wanted the ball on the outside corner. He had been pitching Votto inside all night, but in the final at-bat, he stayed away. The change-up was designed to catch the outside corner. It went right where Hamels wanted it.
"It did," he said. "It probably was the only one to him that did."
