Shane Victorino was warned before the game that he was going to get a moment with the Philadelphia fans. Cole Hamels had told him as much.
So when Victorino stepped in to face his former teammate in his first game back at Citizens Bank Park since being traded to the Dodgers in 2012, the Red Sox's rightfielder was a little puzzled when Hamels stepped off the mound to give the fans a chance to acknowledge another key component from the glory days.
“We texted each other and wished each other the best of luck and he said he was going to give me my time and that was very nice of him,” Victorino said. “I didn’t think about it and dug in the box and he was still standing off the rubber and that’s when the crowd got louder and louder.”
But that wasn’t the only pitch Hamels served up in Monday’s season opener. In five innings, Hamels needed 100 pitches and gave up four runs on five hits and three walks. All four runs came on solo homers, including a pair by Dustin Pedroia, one for Hanley Ramirez and a first-pitch leadoff shot for rookie Mookie Betts.
Interestingly, Hamels was taken deep by Betts, a highly-coveted outfielder who was mentioned as a possible trade chip for the Red Sox to land the Phils’ lefty ace. Needless to say, trade talk was far from Betts’ mind when he dug in against Hamels. Betts was just hoping to work the count against the Phillies’ ace in his second at-bat but jumped on a fastball instead.
“He looked great. We got a couple of hits off of pitches he left over the plate, but for the most part he looked really good,” Betts said. “He threw all his pitches for strikes and he’s tough to hit.”
Victorino, who had a strikeout and a walk against Hamels, had a different read on his former teammate’s performance. In fact, Victorino was the epitome of the Red Sox's approach against Hamels, forcing him to throw 14 pitches in two plate appearances. Ramirez drew an 11-pitch walk in the third off Hamels, and nine hitters forced the lefty to throw at least six pitches when they faced him.
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As a strategy, it worked. Though Hamels struck out six in five innings, he also walked three and had thrown 80 pitches through four innings. After the 20-pitch fifth where he gave up two solo homers, Hamels was done.
“Cole was a little rough today in regards to what he usually is,” Victorino said. “He was up in the zone and that’s not him. Once he started pitching down in the zone, he figured it out and he kept them in the ballgame.”
Maybe in the old days four solo homers would have been something Hamels could dance around. Not anymore. The Phillies didn’t get their first hit off Clay Buchholz until there were two outs in the fourth inning, and they scratched together a pair of singles in the seventh for all of the offense.
If Hamels has a rough outing with the current lineup behind him, it’s going to be tough to rally.
“All those years playing behind him, I know how great he can be,” Victorino said. “But today was one of those days.”
Victorino also knows what Hamels is going through, playing in what could be his last opening day with the Phillies. After all, Victorino had a sense that 2012 was going to be his last opening day with the Phillies. He remembered a few tense times as the trade deadline approached during his time with the Phillies. He hoped to re-sign before the '12 season began, but it wasn’t meant to be.
“I understand because in '11 I wanted to get something done and I wanted to stay here, but it was a great life lesson for me,” Victorino said.
“It’s tough. I understand because I’ve been in that position. You know because you were around and you remember I was the one guy everybody talked about (at the trade deadline). The main part of that is focusing on the task at hand. Cole still has to go out and focus on what he has to do. It doesn’t matter. It’s tough because you may hear things like, ‘You’re not going to be here next year,’ and you take that to heart. But you check that at the door because you have a lot to do. You have a job to do.”
If Hamels pitched his last opening day for the Phillies — or if there are more to come — it will end well for Hamels, Victorino said.
“I think he’ll be fine. I’ve been around Cole for a long time and I know what he wants — he wants to win,” Victorino said. “I’m sure today isn’t sitting well with him and he didn’t have the performance that he wanted. But he’ll be fine.
“I have no idea what is going to happen from here. I’m no GM and I’m no owner, but if he ends up putting on a Red Sox uniform, I’d love to have him as a teammate.”
Things worked out pretty well for Victorino since he left Philadelphia. He got a second World Series ring in 2013, battled back from an injury in 2014 and started in right field on Monday. It worked out well for Betts, too, who wasn’t traded for Hamels and ended up with a homer in his first opening day in the big leagues.
Hamels, meanwhile, is an open book. The story is far from finished.