After three aces delivered, the fourth was wild

It's a shame, really. Cole Hamels had a chance Tuesday night to remind Phillies fans why he, even more than those Cy Young-come-latelies in the starting rotation, deserves something close to a free pass in this city.

Yes, Cliff Lee chose Philadelphia over New York. Yes, Roy Halladay pitched a perfect game and playoff no-hitter, winning 21 games and a Cy Young in his first season here. Yes, Roy Oswalt agreed to waive his no-trade clause to come here.

But Hamels did what every Philadelphia sports fan claims is the one thing that matters. He delivered a title, winning MVP awards in the 2008 World Series and National League Championship Series. If the absence of a ring is the unpardonable sin of Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb and Mike Richards and Allen Iverson, then Hamels should be golden forever, right?

Right?

On a night when he could have made that point against the New York Mets, when he could have upstaged the 2011 season debuts of Doc and Cool Hand Cliff and Little Roy, Hamels did the opposite. He offered up a steaming reminder of his fall-from-grace 2009 season, coughing up six easy runs in 2 2/3 innings and walking off the field to a serenade of jeers and boos.

The only free passes on this night were the two walks issued by Hamels. He also hit a batter and, worst of all, gave up two hits to Mets pitcher Chris Young. In the same inning.

"He got in a hole and he couldn't get out of it," manager Charlie Manuel said. "He was trying real hard to get out of the inning and he started going real fast. At times he has that problem."

If there is a concern, that's it. Hamels has a history of losing his composure and giving up one big inning per start. The hope was that, by maturing and by keeping company with his new colleagues, he was past all that.

He also has a history of being just fine after the occasional howler. Unless he is hiding some injury, this game has no bearing on his ability to come back and pitch a terrific game Sunday in Atlanta.

"It's something that happens," Hamels said. "You try to minimize it. I've been there, done that. At the same point, it's frustrating. You don't want to have games like this, especially to start off the season."

The timing was the shame of it. The first three starters were very good, providing a little glimpse of what the Phillies and their fans are in for all season: a starting pitcher who gives the team a very good chance to win every single day. But they also left plenty of room for Hamels, the only homegrown starter among the five, to assert himself. He could display the added arm strength and improved curveball that everyone heard so much about during spring training.

That didn't happen.

"That's part of baseball," Hamels said. "In about five days, I can get out there again."

The influx of Cy Young-type starters dropped Hamels to the No. 4 spot in rotation. One by-product of that was supposed to be the chance for him to match up with other teams' fourth starters - such as, oh, Chris Young, for instance. These matchups were supposed to be opportunities for Hamels to get some of the wins that poor run support deprived him of last year.

That pattern will last all of one start, though. Hamels is scheduled to face Braves opening-day starter Derek Lowe on Sunday.

Not so very long ago, that was the pitching matchup for Game 1 of the NLCS between the Phillies and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Hamels pitched seven innings, allowed two runs, and won the game that made you believe the Phillies could actually, gulp, get to the World Series.

Hamels was 24 years old. He pitched that postseason with a breezy confidence and a killer instinct that had people predicting he was on the verge of being one of the very best pitchers in baseball.

He has a record of 24-26 since then, including 2-3 in the postseason. He was so clueless in his one start in the 2009 World Series, he would not have pitched again unless there had been a Game 8 or 9. A year after being a key reason the Phillies won their first title in 28 years, he was one of the main reasons they couldn't repeat.

Because of that, and because of his sometimes flighty public demeanor, Hamels doesn't quite have the lifetime platinum status that should have been his after 2008.

In spite of all that, Hamels is still young, still capable of another decade as an elite pitcher, still a No. 1 starter on most staffs.

He had a chance to remind a sellout crowd of all that. He didn't.