A hush went over the crowd when Cole Hamels walked off the field with assistant athletic trainer Mark Anderson.
Hamels had some tightness in his back that he attributes to the cold weather, but when asked if he would make his next start in Seattle Hamels said “Oh, yeah.”
“I want to go out and pitch as much as possible. I don’t ever want to come out of the game,” Hamels said. “But at the same time, sometimes there’s situations where you have some doubt and you’re better off not trying to force anything. I think that was kind of the situation with how long the game was. The temperature of my body just kind of went cold and I was stiffening up. To go out and try to pitch at your best when you’re stiff that obviously just an opportunity to put yourself in a bad situation and put yourself in an opportunity to get hurt. I want to be able to make every start and to be healthy. If there’s one little bump it’s not really a big deal.”
Sounds ok to me, because the Phillies can not afford to lose Hamels, who is really one a roll this year. By all means, let’s err on the side of caution.
Until his departure Cole was being Cole, retiring 17 straight batters at one point. Cole has been absolutely dominate this season. Not as many strikeouts, but after allowing one run in the first, Hamels and the Phillies didn’t allow another run. Throw away his first start of the season and Cole is 9-1 with a 1.99 ERA. Hamels has really established himself as one of the best lefties in the game.
I don’t think we should have any worries with Hamels either. He should be fine