Cole Hamels

Cole Hamels didn't expect to win the Daily News Sportsperson of the Year, but that's only because he didn't know it existed. See, Hamels expects to win it all. That is his secret. He expects to retire every batter, preferably by strikeout, and he hates walks. He expects to win every game. He expects an ERA around 3.00. This year, in his second full season, he finished in the top 10 in the NL in wins, strikeouts, strikeout-to-walk ratio, wins, ERA, innings pitched, shutouts and, the killer geek stat, walks and hits per innings pitched.

It's early until it isn't. For a baseball team, there is a fine line between maintaining perspective and complacently allowing things to slip away. The Phillies have to watch that line very closely this year, especially when it comes to their pitching - particularly the bullpen. A week in, there are legitimate questions about the bullpen, and the outfield defense, and the lack of power. But the real question, after two lost series, is just what the Phillies accomplished during their seven weeks in Clearwater, Fla. Spring training was extended a bit because of the World Baseball Classic.

Phillies lefthander Cole Hamels instigated a talk-radio firestorm with his postgame comments Saturday after an 8-5 loss to the Yankees in Game 3 - although the full context revealed a more complicated meaning than the interpretation that incensed some. "I can't wait for it to end," Hamels said of his difficult season. "It's been mentally draining. At year's end, you just can't wait for a fresh start. " Some commentators who heard those words in isolation took them to mean that Hamels did not want to pitch again this season.

MIAMI - The Phillies handed Cole Hamels the ball Sunday for the 212th time in his career, and the man with a $144 million left arm pitched with grace in a start unlike any before. Never before had Hamels, the franchise's golden boy, pitched in a truly meaningless game. They were eliminated on the penultimate day of his rookie season. Ever since, Hamels has pitched with the postseason in sight. There was no difference Sunday in a stellar seven-inning effort against the Miami Marlins that capped a marvelous 2012 for Hamels.

As a youngster growing up in San Diego, Cole Hamels dreamed about this. He dreamed about winning the World Series, about being the MVP, about hugging teammates and spraying champagne. The reality is much better than the dream. "It's tremendous," the 24-year-old pitcher said with a bright, ear-to-ear smile after the Phillies wrapped the World Series championship with a 4-3 win over Tampa Bay in Game 5 last night. "I can't describe it," he said. "It's such a phenomenal experience.

Cole Hamels was restricted in his throwing program earlier this offseason because of shoulder soreness, CSNPhilly.com reported Thursday, but the issue was never serious enough to require a doctor's examination. "I'd be concerned if this was an issue, but we don't view this as an issue at all," general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. told CSNPhilly.com. Earlier in the week, Amaro said there were no outstanding injury issues to his knowledge, including for reliever Mike Stutes, who had shoulder surgery last June.

THE DICHOTOMY of the start of the baseball season is that with 162 games, it's still too early to get excited about the good things. It is never, however, too soon to raise an eyebrow at the bad ones. So, what do you make of Cole Hamels now that the Phillies' ace has crapped out in his first two starts? Unlike last year, when he struggled in his first start at Citizens Bank Park, none of the home faithful booed Hamels after he blew a four-run lead and left in the sixth inning of a 9-8 loss to the Kansas City Royals on Sunday.

Cole Hamels was a Rocco Baldelli homer away from being the first pitcher to win five postseason games. No matter. Hamels was the World Series MVP. He didn't pitch last night, but every time he pitched, the Phils won - even in games that started on a Monday and ended on a Wednesday. "I'm definitely going to have to enjoy this moment, because there are a lot of times you don't have everything go your way," Hamels said. "I was just fortunate enough to, I guess, be on the good ends of these victories and winning a trophy.

THE PHILLIES have used their first-round pick on a lanky, lefthanded high school pitcher twice in the last 11 years. The first went on to win a World Series MVP and earn the richest contract in franchise history. The second took a perfect game into the seventh inning in his most recent start. Cole Hamels, who made his fifth start of the season on Tuesday night, was the first player, selected with the 17th overall pick in the 2002 draft. He made his major league debut 4 years later.

The scoreboard has been kind to the Phillies. While they slip, slide and fall in their modest pursuit of reaching .500, the Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals have failed to pull away. It's hard to believe that any team could have a worse on-base percentage than the .304 the Phillies have posted through 41 games. But five teams do, and the Nationals, at .292, are one of them. The Braves, meanwhile, started 13-2 and have gone 9-16 since. The misfortune of others will not matter if the Phillies cannot fix their myriad problems.

THREE MONTHS ago, before the official announcement, Roy Halladay endorsed Cole Hamels as the new leader of the Phillies' rotation. Halladay had started 10 straight times on Opening Day, dating back to his days in Toronto, but in the early part of spring training the aging veteran acknowledged it was Hamels' time. "It should have been his spot a long time ago," Halladay said in February about the then-undecided assignment. "I think it's something he's going to embrace . . . I talked to him about it when we're going out and doing drills, stuff like that, it's time for him now to kind of step up and take charge in those situations and establish himself as the head of the staff.

It was a classic example of what has ailed the Phillies in the first quarter of the season - a struggling Cole Hamels, an ineffective middle relief corps, and a stalled offense. Hamels surrendered five runs in five laborious innings and the bullpen matched that total Wednesday in a 10-4 loss to the Cleveland Indians at Citizens Bank Park. A pitcher's record can be deceptive, but Hamels is now 1-6 with a 4.61 ERA. In his one losing season, 2009, he was 10-11 with a 4.32 ERA. "What you saw today was he was having a hard time putting the ball where he wanted it to go," manager Charlie Manuel said.

ROY HALLADAY yesterday had surgery to repair his $20 million shoulder, which, with the rest of him, was 36 years and 1 day old. The surgery likely will end his season and surely will alter his career. Mike Adams, the Phillies' featured addition to their pitching staff, has pitched through aches all season and is shelved for the time being with a back injury. Veteran middle man Chad Durbin, usually lousy early in seasons, has been lousy early this season. Huge reliever Phillippe Aumont, a 24-year-old who had pitched in 31 major league games since he was called up in late August, has pitched like a giant 24-year-old with about a half-season of experience.

There have been times this season and in the past when Cole Hamels has been a victim. He would be consistently great and the Phillies' offense would be constantly absent. This was not one of those times. The Phillies arrived at Citizens Bank Park on Wednesday morning with a chance to extend their winning streak to four games, a modest accomplishment they have failed to achieve this season. With Hamels facing Cleveland's Corey Kluber, a righthander with a career 5.42 ERA in 20 games, the Phillies had to be energized upon arrival, which is the way you are supposed to feel whenever your ace takes the mound.

MAY IS A month in which any amount of optimism can be excused, and if you spend enough time scanning the airwaves and sports pages in this town you will find a number of sources attempting to talk themselves into believing in this Phillies team. Some of that might be the result of a coping mechanism - the thought of 4 months of meaningless baseball is a weighty thought to process - but even the most ardent of cynics cannot deny the multitude of variables that could blossom into positives between now and October.

PHOENIX - The night he became the longest-tenured manager in 131 years of Phillies baseball, Charlie Manuel left his lineup on his desk. His players streamed from the clubhouse to the field for stretches two hours before first pitch. Manuel lounged on a tractor when Chase Utley tapped him on the knee to ask who was playing. "I forgot to put the lineup up," Manuel said, shaking his head. The Phillies dragged through Thursday, a 2-1 loss to Arizona, when the most rudimentary tasks were difficult.

SAN FRANCISCO - The Phillies flew here to escape the noise, the grisly sights from a weekend of baseball at home and the burden of a disabled ace. Their first task was to conquer the powerful Giants, a team with six straight wins and Madison Bumgarner, owner of a 1.55 ERA, on the mound. For one night, the Phillies eased the pain of a disappointing start to 2013 with one of the more rounded efforts in the season's first 33 games. They won, 6-2, Monday night, and it was never in question because of Cliff Lee and Michael Young, two players who experienced such heartbreak at this ballpark.

SAN FRANCISCO - Roy Halladay found refuge on the back of a plane. "I didn't get the opportunity to speak to Roy," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said from the visiting dugout at AT & T Park yesterday. "I got up and went back to look for him, but he was asleep. I didn't want to wake him up. " After pitching through one of the worst starts of his career, and then acknowledging his arm wasn't right afterward, Halladay slept on the team's charter flight from Philadelphia to San Francisco on Sunday.

THE WORDS that Cliff Lee spoke on Wednesday night in Cleveland were borne of frustration, something that Charlie Manuel acknowledged as he sat in the dugout before last night's game against the Miami Marlins. The manager, who prides himself on his abilities as a human thermometer, insisted that he has yet to sense any friction between the team's pitchers and the hitters, despite the inability of the latter party to provide its counterpart with much in the way of breathing room over the first month of the season.