The Rotation (35 page)

So, naturally, everybody got a scare shortly after they got home. Cole Hamels pitched only five innings on August 12 in a 4-2 loss to the Washington Nationals at Citizens Bank Park. His fastball averaged just 88.6 mph after averaging 91.4 mph for the season. It was 91.4 mph on July 22
against San Diego, 91.2 mph on July 27 against San Francisco, 90.7 mph on August 1 at Colorado, and 90.2 mph on August 6 at San Francisco. It had been dropping for weeks, but this was significant. Something was wrong.

Hamels revealed after the game he felt stiffness in his left shoulder.

Shoulder problems? Oh, boy.

A blown ligament in a pitcher's elbow can be replaced, but shoulders are much trickier. A torn rotator cuff can end a pitcher's career, even after surgery. Hamels, however, didn't seem concerned as he spoke about it, which everybody inside the organization took as a good sign. Hamels suffered so many injuries early in his career, he is extra cautious whenever he feels a twinge or some sort of discomfort. He said that night he felt no pain in his shoulder.

No pain.
That was important.

“It's one of those times of the year,” he said nonchalantly. “Travelling, pitching a lot of innings—things kind of mount and you just have to battle through it. It just kind of comes up. You don't ever know and you just try to do everything you can to get your body back . . . and I haven't felt that yet. Once I start getting that jump, I think everything will smooth out.”

But until Hamels had an MRI, nobody could be certain. There could be a tear in there. Teams announce injuries as stiffness or soreness and often they turn into something much worse. Chase Utley had “general soreness” in spring training only for everybody to learn a few days later he had major knee problems that could cost him his season and possibly his career. But good news for Hamels came following an MRI exam on August 15. He had no structural damage in the shoulder, and while the Phillies placed him on the disabled list to rest, he would return to the mound before the end of the month.

The Phillies would be fine without him. They still had Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee pitching at full strength. Vance Worley was 6-0 with a 2.52 ERA in 10 starts since rejoining the rotation in June, and Roy Oswalt was back.

The Phillies took two of three from the surging Arizona Diamondbacks the next week in Philly with their only loss coming in the series opener on August 16, when Halladay blew the first ninth-inning lead of his career in a 3-2 loss.

It was Halladay's 65
^th
career complete game and just the 15
^th
he had lost, but none had happened like this. He had a 2-1 lead entering the top of the ninth. He thought he had struck out Justin Upton on an 0-2 pitch, but home plate umpire Vic Carapazza called the changeup a ball. Upton singled on the next pitch and Miguel Montero followed with a single to left field to put runners on first and second with nobody out.

Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel had Ryan Madson and Antonio Bastardo warming up in the bullpen, but they remained there. This was Doc's game to finish.

“That's my ace,” Manuel said.

Halladay rewarded Manuel for his faith under similar circumstances in Washington on April 13, when he carried a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth at Nationals Park. He had allowed two runs to score and had runners on second and third with one out, but struck out the final two batters he faced to win the game. Manuel expected more of the same from Halladay against the Diamondbacks. He struck out Chris Young for the first out, but Lyle Overbay ripped a double off the right-field wall to clear the bases to give Arizona the lead.

“It can be a little tougher to swallow sometimes in the ninth,” Halladay said.

Halladay blew a 3-2 lead in the eighth inning in Cincinnati on June 30, 2010. He allowed a run in the ninth in a 1-0 loss in Boston on April 29, 2008. They were the only other times he suffered a similar fate. Fans criticized Manuel for leaving Halladay in the game, which was ridiculous. Had Manuel pulled Halladay for Madson or Bastardo and they had lost the lead, the same fans would have angrily questioned Manuel for pulling his ace. Manuel stuck with his horse. He would do it again if he had the chance.

“There's never been the perfect pitcher or the perfect player,” he said.

Cliff Lee kept trying to prove Manuel's theory wrong. He came close in June and he was trying to replicate his success in August. He allowed two runs in seven innings in a 9-2 victory over the Diamondbacks on August 17. At the time, no one thought much about Arizona first baseman Paul Goldschmidt's two-run homer in that game, but it was significant. Those turned out to be the only runs Lee would allow in five starts and 39⅔ innings in the month of August.

Roy Oswalt spent July recovering from the pain in his lower back, but a second cortisone injection had him feeling like himself again. He rejoined the rotation on August 7, allowing 12 hits and three runs in six innings in San Francisco. He looked better on August 13 against Washington, allowing six hits and three runs while striking out five in seven innings.

But everybody was waiting for that one start when they could point and say, “Little Roy is back.”

Oswalt had been scheduled to pitch against the Nationals in Washington on August 19, but there was a 142-minute rain delay after he threw his warm-up pitches. Phillies Pitching Coach Rich Dubee pushed him back a day—no need to have him warm up again after cooling down, putting unnecessary strain on his back—and started him the next night. It was the right call. Oswalt's fifth fastball of the game clocked 94 mph. He rolled from there, striking out a season-high nine batters in eight scoreless innings in a 5-0 victory.

“He's back,” Cole Hamels said. “I think that's pretty much it. He's back. When he has the velocity, you know it's game time.”

Oswalt's fastball averaged 92.2 mph. It was 90.9 mph in eight starts from May 17, when he went on the disabled list for the first time, through June 23, when he went on the disabled list a second time. Kanye West blared in the clubhouse after the game. Oswalt's teammates were pumped.

“Vintage Roy,” Jimmy Rollins said. “He had that little fastball that he shoots from his chest and by the time the batter swings, it's shoulder-height. I was excited, man. His velocity was super. I was looking up and he was hitting 93 still late in the game. I was like, ‘Wow.' You could tell he has confidence in his back and in his arm.”

Carlos Ruiz agreed, and Ruiz's opinion carries weight. He is one of the most candid players in the Phillies' clubhouse. He doesn't speak in clichés.

“That was him, you know?” he said. “He hit ninety-three, ninety-four. You can see he was healthy. That's the best part. He likes to compete, but when you're hurt, it's hard. You could see it. He's quiet, but you could see it in his face and body language. Something was wrong. He didn't feel OK. Now I know he's healthy.”

If Oswalt was back, Hamels could get healthy, and Halladay and Lee could keep throwing like they had been, the Phillies could enter the postseason at full strength. That would be huge. For years, Charlie Manuel had been asked questions about using pitchers on short rest in the postseason: Cole Hamels in the 2007 NLDS against Colorado; Cliff Lee in the 2009
World Series against New York; and Roy Halladay in the 2010 NLCS against San Francisco. But with four aces, each on top of his game, they could have everybody pitching on normal rest.

An early afternoon earthquake—5.8 on the Richter Scale—shook Philadelphia on August 23. Citizens Bank Park was ordered evacuated. But it would have taken the Big One to interrupt Roy Halladay's workday. He stayed in the ballpark and finished his afternoon workout. Philly would get another taste of Mother Nature later in the week, when Hurricane Irene barreled toward Philadelphia on August 27. The Phillies postponed their weekend games against the Florida Marlins and flew early to Cincinnati for a four-game series against the Reds beginning two days later at Great American Ball Park.

The Phillies had an unusual amount of time to kill on the road, but they found a way. Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Kyle Kendrick, Hunter Pence, Brad Lidge, Ben Francisco, Mike Stutes, Ross Gload, David Herndon, Home Clubhouse Manager and league commissioner Phil Sheridan and clubhouse attendants Sean Bowers and Rick Collinson held their fantasy football draft that Saturday in a conference room at the hotel, complete with beers and pizzas. (The only ace not to participate was Roy Oswalt; he had played in 2010, but spent so much time hunting in the off-season he rarely made a roster move or lineup change and decided not to play again.)

The Phillies have had a fantasy football league since Curt Schilling got the ball rolling in 1995. Harry Kalas announced the first few rounds of those drafts, making them easily the coolest fantasy football drafts ever.