Cool Hamels

For the last two months, America has been treated to the advantages of have moderate, logical, thinking adults in positions of responsibility in two fronts. In the World Series, Cole Hamels was utterly unflappable. It's not merely that he was cool on the mound. He did not get upset when calls went against him. He did not argue balls and strike. He did not make wild demonstrations. He just went out and pitched. And he won.

Sometimes athletes are lauded for showing fire and passion. Hamels should be lauded and emulated for showing constraint and focus. Hamels doesn't whine when he doesn't get run support. He just pitches and tries to get people out. If someone hits a homerun, he tries to get the next guy out. Carlos Zambrano tries to punch out his own catcher. Hamels is not just unflappable because nothing happens to him. Thanks to the wonders of mlb.tv and the Comcast package, I watched just about every start Hamels made this year, and if anyone ever had a beef about run support, it was Hamels. Except that Hamels never had a beef about run support. He’d lose a game 1-0or 2-1 and it was water off a duck’s back.

They used to have a saying for that: “Pitches good enough to lose.” I must admit that during the season that this position when the Phillies went through one of their stretches where they all stop hitting at once. If the other pitcher is shutting down the offense, the our guy has to do the same if we're going to win. Obviously, no one can meet that standard. Hamels never tired to. Hamels never complained about run support, even when people asked him about it. Hamels never offered to pitch on short rest or bitched about being taken out of games. If he feels tired, he tells his manager. If he thinks he needs a chiropractor to pitch effectively, he says so. Why? Because he knows his goal: to help the Phillies win the World Series. This year, they did.

This post season, he went 4-0. He did not whine about the playing conditions in game 5 of the World Series. He just went out and pitched. Earlier in the season, people derided his toughness for not volunteering to pitch on three days rest. That's a bogus criticism because it ignores that the Phillies have other pitchers. He was thinking to the end of the season.. He was thinking about the World Series.

I was thinking about that in the election season.

This other guy is the more important one. In electing Barack Obama the citizens of the United States appears to have actually found a thinking adult to put in office. Watching his "60 Minutes" interview on Sunday, he looked relaxed and calm. He seemed to have a grasp of what needed to be done. In short, he is another guy like Cole Hamels. He's not going to panic. He's not going to act tough or get demonstrative just because people on Fox News or CNN shout the sky is falling. He is going to handle problems rationally. When Cole Hamels took that approach, he went 4-0. I hope the President-Elect has similar results.