Hamels not ready to quit, wants ball in Game 7

PHILADELPHIA

At midnight Cole Hamels strolled the length of the Phillies' clubhouse to Charlie Manuel's office.

The Hamels-Myers situation Yes, Brett Myers said something to Cole Hamels. Yes, Hamels responded with an expletive. But the exchange between the two in the Phillies' clubhouse Monday night was anything but the "tense confrontation" described by Yahoo! Sports. I saw the whole thing. I was standing maybe five feet away. I thought Myers was joking, and did not even consider writing about it in my accompanying column about Hamels. Yahoo! Sports, citing a witness, quoted Myers as saying, "What are you doing here? I thought you quit." Hamels responded with an expletive, and Yahoo reported, "Before the situation escalated, Hamels was guided away by a team official." All of that happened, but not in the context described by Yahoo! Myers walked by Hamels' locker as he left the clubhouse. The two are good friends and Myers is bit of a wise guy, the kind who always has something to say. He made his remark in passing, not in an in-your- face way. If Myers truly had wanted to confront Hamels, he could have done it Sunday, the day after Hamels was widely quoted as saying that he wanted his frustrating season to end. He also could have done it before Monday night's game rather than waiting until after it. Phillies public-relations director Greg Casterioto indeed guided away Hamels, but not because of an "escalating situation" with Myers. Phillies manager Charlie Manuel was waiting to meet with Hamels in his office and Casterioto walked him there. I called Casterioto on Tuesday morning to confirm that I had not misinterpreted what I had witnessed. Casterioto said the Yahoo! account of the exchange was correct, but the interpretation was not. A club official trying to protect a player? Not in this case. Not from what I saw. — Ken Rosenthal, FOXSports.com

The pitcher had requested a meeting with his manager. The door stayed closed for a good 10 minutes. Hamels was very clear. He wanted to start Game 7 of the World Series. He had never quit anything in his life. "It's the ultimate competition, the ultimate dream of a competitor to pitch the deciding game at the biggest moment on the biggest stage ever," Hamels said Monday night. "I've always had that. I've always wanted it." OK, time to cut the kid a break — and Hamels is still a kid, just 25. If the Series gets to Game 7 and Manuel picks Hamels to start — neither a sure thing — the challenge for the left-hander will be pitching well, not wanting the ball. Still, Hamels' comments after his poor start in Game 3 created a different impression, one he needed to correct, both with Manuel and the public. Hamels, referring to his disappointing 2009 season, said, "I can't wait for it to end." Manuel did not sound terribly concerned about Hamels' remarks in a meeting with the FOX broadcasters the next day, embarking upon a lengthy, impassioned defense of his pitcher. Yet, Hamels felt compelled to set the record straight. He showered and dressed after the Phillies 8-6 victory over the Yankees, a victory that sent the series back to New York for Game 6 and possibly 7. A Phillies' public-relations official came to Hamels' locker and indicated that Manuel was ready to meet, and off the pitcher went. "I felt like, I'm obligated enough, I'm man enough to tell him and show him who I am," Hamels said. "He definitely does know who I am. But this was not what I ever wanted. It definitely hurt the way it came out." He was in shock, basically. "I didn't even know what I said or put out there," Hamels said. "It's not what I was thinking. Sometimes you talk and you try to be as honest as possible, connect as much to people as you can, and you say the wrong things that you didn't really mean." Manuel, sitting in his office after the meeting, seemed perfectly fine with Hamels' explanation. "He just talked to me about some of the stuff that was in the papers," Manuel said. "He said he had talk to me. He just wanted to talk. We talked about it. "I've never, ever questioned Hamels' mental toughness. I'll tell you right now, he loves to pitch. He's a big competitor. He's had kind of a freakish year. But go back and look at it, and there have been a lot of young pitchers like that." So, would Hamels be Manuel's Game 7 starter? Well, first the Phillies must win Game 6 behind right-hander Pedro Martinez, who gleefully deferred comment until his return to Yankee Stadium on Tuesday. "Earn your job. Earn your duties," Martinez told reporters. "Be creative — like always." For Game 7, Manuel's choice seemingly would come down to Hamels or rookie J.A. Happ, with left-hander Cliff Lee and righty Joe Blanton available in relief. Hamels, the 2008 Series MVP, will draw strong sentiment from certain corners of the organization. Manuel's loyalty to his players, in particular, rarely waivers. "We'll talk about all that, but he's definitely in the mix," Manuel said of Hamels. "I told him the same thing. "I'm a Hamels guy, always have been," Manuel continued, unprompted. "I've been a Hamels guy since I saw him at (Class A) Lakewood (in 2003). He allowed one hit in seven innings. He had come back from a sore arm, rehabbing. He pitched against Rome, Ga. He threw a helluva game." Manuel knows Hamels' history. The broken arm Hamels suffered in his sophomore year of high school. The elbow injury that sidelined him for most of 2004. The bar fight that caused a broken pitching hand before the '05 season began, the back injury that shut him down later that year. Hamels fought through all that, became the pitcher who led the Phillies to their first World Series title since 1980. Yet a Philadelphia columnist with a short memory jumped on Hamels' comments after Game 3, calling him "the most un-Philly Philadelphia athlete ever." Back at his locker, back from his meeting with Manuel, Hamels answered. "I would never be here if I ever quit on anything," he said. "I would never be standing here, ever."