Phil Sheridan: For Phils' Hamels, bad outing no big deal

CLEARWATER, Fla. - It looked all too familiar: Cole Hamels standing behind the mound, watching a ball land in the seats to complete one of those nightmare innings that proved to be his undoing so many times in 2009.

The long and unforgiving season ahead will determine whether yesterday's sound thwacking by half the Yankees' lineup was an early-warning sign or merely the product of a veteran pitcher focused on preparation rather than results. The Phillies lefthander was convincing in his conviction that his four-inning, seven-run outing was no big deal.

"I was actually a lot happier," Hamels said. "I felt like I had a lot more energy going into every inning. I was in a good rhythm. I really just wanted to hit my spots [with his fastball]. I really need to work on getting the fastball down."

In other words, Hamels didn't deploy his infuriating change-up when he normally would. He threw a few curveballs - his big project for this spring - and was happy that they went for strikes. His fastball, meanwhile, wasn't quite winding up where he wanted it. Certainly he didn't want it on the berm behind the outfield wall.

"If I threw them in the right location," Hamels said, "there would have been a different result" - which pretty much describes every pitch that ever traveled from bat to bleachers.

Hamels' nonchalance was a good sign that this was not a relapse of the problems with focus and composure that plagued him last year. However, his history makes it fair to wonder.

You may recall the last of those meltdowns, because it came in Game 3 of the World Series. Handed a 3-0 lead, Hamels lost his composure after a pitch he thought was strike three was called ball four. Over two innings, the Yankees' next nine batters produced five runs with a home run, two doubles, two singles, and a walk. They took a 5-3 lead in the game and, from that moment on, control of the series.

That was the night, of course, that Hamels made the unfortunate comment about how he couldn't "wait" for the long 2009 season to be over and a "fresh start" in 2010. Even if the reaction to that remark was overblown and unfair - and it was - there's no doubt it revealed just how beaten down the 2008 postseason hero was.

Until yesterday afternoon, that fresh start was going very well. Hamels arrived for spring training in better shape physically and emotionally. He continued to develop the curveball and cutter that could add uncertainty for hitters who solved his fastball/change-up repertoire. Hamels was getting people out.

And then those mean old Yankees showed up in Clearwater for a Grapefruit League game. Shortstop Ramiro Pena, who is surely many things but not Derek Jeter, led off the fourth inning with a drive to deep center that Jayson Werth played from a double into a triple.

In the movie version, there would be a flashback to Hamels throwing up his hands after a botched double play cost him a run in the National League Championship Series in Los Angeles. Then comes the cut to the present, where Kevin "Not A-Rod" Russo and Eduardo Nunez lash back-to-back doubles.

After allowing another run on a sacrifice fly, Hamels walked Curtis Granderson. Mark Teixeira followed with a home run to left-center. Hamels hit Nick Swisher before retiring Francisco Cervelli to end the carnage.

Total damage in the inning: five runs on four extra-base hits, a walk, and a hit batsman.

Total damage in the four innings: seven runs, nine hits.

So it was interesting to see how Hamels would respond after the game. In the past, he has often seemed to be lost in his own head. He is the flip side of Tim Robbins' "Nuke" LaLoosh character from the movie Bull Durham. LaLoosh is so cocky and oblivious that he inspires the oft-quoted observation, "The world is made for people who aren't cursed with self-awareness."

Hamels is cursed with a double helping of self-awareness. It is part of what makes him such a fascinating character. He openly shares the kind of inner struggle that must go on within most great players in every sport.

The pressure on Hamels this year is intense. He is looking to prove that 2009, not 2008, was the fluke year. More than that, he is the man the Phillies are counting on to justify their decision to trade Cliff Lee after acquiring Roy Halladay. If Hamels returns to form, the Phillies' rotation is fine. If not . . .

Well, that's the grim possibility raised by the way the Yankees teed off on his fastball in that one dreadful inning. It is good that it happened in late March, not late October, but it would have been better for everyone's peace of mind if it hadn't happened at all.

Yesterday was Cole Hamels' first rough outing of spring training. Here are the numbers in a loss to the Yankees:

7 runs on 9 hits, 2 strikeouts and 1 walk, in 4 innings pitched