Hugo Boss pitched six scoreless in Game 3, threw 117 pitches, gave the Phillies a chance to overcome a man who handles them better than any other starter on the St. Louis staff. Meanwhile, Cardinals lefthander Jaime Garcia glided through his innings, retiring the Phillies in order in four of the first five innings. His pitch count was as low as his confidence was high.
Hamels? There were several strolls off the mound in this one, looking to the skies, scaring himself and others. He got strike one a ton, but the Cardinals' at-bats from there were a test of wills. He'd throw and they'd foul, take, foul again. One grueling at-bat after another after another.
"He keeps his cool whether some people realize it or not," manager Charlie Manuel said. "He's gutty. And he's been gutty ever since I've known him . . . Even when I saw him in Lakewood, I knew he had that. I like him out there in any situation."
Hamels was in trouble right away. Albert Pujols hit the first of his three doubles with two outs in the first inning and the Phillies lefty followed that by bouncing a pitch off Lance Berkman's toe. He struck out David Freese to escape that. But by the time Hamels labored through the second inning, his pitch count was in the 40s and by the end of the third, he was at 56.
"I was trying to make pitches and just keep them down," Hamels said. "If I missed, I knew I got another opportunity. If you're making your mistakes up in the zone, you're pretty much going to pay for it really bad. But if they're down, you give yourself probably a better opportunity to get out of the inning."
