Cole Hamels deserved more love here

Cole Hamels will leave town as one of the more under-appreciated athletes in Philadelphia sports history.

Phillies fans adored Cliff Lee. People fell head over heels for Roy Halladay. I don't blame you one iota. They were stellar in Philadelphia. But Hamels was the World Series MVP. He had as much to do with ending a 25-year championship drought in this city as anyone else on that 2008 roster.

Home grown. Came up through the ranks. A product of the Phillies farm system. Good gosh, those three sentences are almost foreign to read, hear or see, are they not? But it's true. Yet he will exit with people never falling in love with him the way they did with other aces who donned the red pinstripes.

Why? Some will give the "California cool" excuse. Others will say he lacked personality. A knucklehead or two will say he lacked that Philly intensity.

I tend to think it has to do with the way he handled 2009. Admitting that he soaked up the championship experience a little too much. Relished the moment for too long. Wasn't prepared for the following season as well as he could have been. Only to top it off by wishing that the 2009 season would just come to an end as he performed below expectations.

Well, if that's your reason for not loving him the way you did Lee and Halladay, news flash, he atoned for it!

Take a look at his some of his seasons since the blemish of 2009. The man hasn't won double-digit games in a season since 2012 thanks to an inept lineup. He has been good enough to win 14-16 games a year the past three years.

Philadelphia has a reputation, as many major-market cities do, for not appreciating what it has until it's gone. You're sports fans. It's to be expected. Sometimes true. Sometimes not true. People will say that Donovan McNabb was unappreciated. That's false. He came up small on a routine basis. Hamels did what McNabb couldn't do. He delivered the ultimate prize. A citywide drought among the four professional franchises for a quarter-century was over. Done. Finished. 1983 was now a thing of the past.

I'd never call Hamels an ace. Aces flirt with or win 20 games in a season. They lead the league in ERA. They are the best of the best. We live in a sports climate in which seemingly everyone labels players as great.

Let's not water down the definition of ace. He was a very good No. 1 who at times was relegated to second or third tier behind names such as Halladay and Lee. There's a distinct difference between an ace and a No. 1 — much like in the NFL, where there is a difference between a franchise quarterback and an elite quarterback. Same thing in the NBA, when it comes to an all-star-caliber player or a star, there is absolutely a difference.

When I think of aces, I think of Clayton Kershaw, Adam Wainwright, Felix Hernandez, Madison Bumgarner, David Price and Johnny Cueto. Hamels is very close to an ace. He's paid like one. And I know baseball is a sport driven by stats (Hamels has a lower ERA for his career than both Lee and Halladay) but I go by the eye test and my eyes never told me he was a definitive ace.

Before the 2015 season, Hamels told the USA Today: "I just want to win. That's all any competitor wants. And I know it's not going to happen here." ESPN's Jayson Stark said the following days after Hamels remarks to the USA Today: "The best word to describe Cole Hamels' media scrum was uncomfortable. Didn't deny USA Today quotes. Did try to distance himself from them." Now, Hamels will distance himself Philadelphia. The time has come.

Just days removed from a no-hitter, Phillies fans will see a 31-year-old, lefthanded, top-of-the-line pitcher leave their team. We all understand why. Everyone should be OK with it, as fans hope for at least one prospect in return who will be a part of the future core of Phillies, just one piece that will pan out and join a group that could include Maikel Franco and Aaron Nola.

Hamels will leave Philadelphia unappreciated by many. I'm rooting for him to win another title elsewhere, and I appreciate what he did. I'm somewhat sane thanks in part to 2008.