NEW YORKIts long been accepted that pitchers wins is a stat that doesnt have the value often placed on it. Sure, typically the really good pitchers get lots of wins like when Steve Carlton won 27 games for the 1972 Phillies team that went 59-97.
It was as if Carlton willed the hapless Phillies to victory.
Sometimes talent doesnt win out though. In 1987 Nolan Ryan led the National League in ERA (2.76) and strikeouts (270), but finished the season with a 8-16 record, good for the second-most losses in baseball.
Regardless, when it comes wins, most pitchers are traditionalists in that they want them. No, most pitchers are not going to put their own success ahead of the team, but if a guy has 19 wins its only natural to want 20.
Or, in the case of Cole Hamels and his 14 wins, he wants to get 15.
At 14-9, Hamels is having perhaps his finest regular season. Selected for the National Leagues All-Star team, Hamels ranks in the top five in the league in ERA (2.75), complete games (3) and leads in WHIP (0.93), but barely cracks the top 10 in wins. Worse, Hamels was 12-5 after beating the Padres on July 22 to take a piece of the league leadership.
Since then, Hamels has gone 2-4 in 10 starts with a 3.01 ERA and 59 strikeouts in 68 23 innings. Thats not bad when one considers the Phillies scored just 26 runs in those 10 starts with six games where they scored two runs or fewer and just three games in which they scored more than three runs.
In this case, Hamels is more Nolan Ryan than Steve Carlton.
MLB
So with one more outing planned for the regular season, Hamels will work out of the bullpen in the regular-season finale in Atlanta on Wednesday. Originally Hamels wanted to start the game and go for approximately 75-80 pitches, but pitching coach Rich Dubee nixed that idea. With Hamels scheduled to pitch Game 3 of the NLDS next Tuesday and because he pitched seven innings on Saturday afternoon against the Mets, the lefty will likely go an inning or two.
Heres where it will get interesting
Because the starting pitcher can only win a game if he pitches five innings and the regular-season finale is shaping up to be chock full of bullpen guys, Hamels could get win No. 15 by strategically being placed into the game.
So whats the big deal about win No. 15 for Hamels? For one thing, it would tie his career-high set in 2007. It would also give the Phillies three 15-game winners all with ERAs lower than 3, a feat no major league team has achieved since the 1972 World Series champion Oakland As.
Moreover, no Phillies team has had three 15-game winners since the 1966 club had Jim Bunning, Chris Short and Larry Jackson did it.
Otherwise, whats the point? Hamels has no incentives in his contract for wins, just Cy Young Award placement.
No, Hamels isnt going to the bullpen in Wednesdays finale because the Phillies want to get him 15 wins. They are much more interesting in winning the World Series. However, no matter what anyone says about pitchers wins as a viable statistic, make no mistake about one thing
Pitchers like them.
E-mail John Finger at jfinger@comcastsportsnet.com