The Boogate 2011 saga continued tonight when Phillies fans did not boo starting pitcher Joe Blanton after he surrendered 7 runs to the New York Mets. Blanton, unlike Hamels blew a 7 run lead, gave up one more run and turned what should have been an easy game into a rather scary one.
So, why did the fans boo Hamels and not Blanton? The answer is simple, the fans expected a lot more out of Cole Hamels. Hamels was “Ace Number 4” and put on the same shelf as Oswalt,Lee, and Halladay, Blanton was not. The boo of Hamels was part frustration, but it was also part fear. A fear that Ace number 4 of the dream rotation could really be a joker.
Blanton on the other hand, is expected to be the loser. On the Phillies All-Star pitching staff Blanton is like the kid brother that mom forces you to include in your pick up games. No one cares about Blanton. No one expected Blanton to make a difference this season, which is why no one booed Blanton.
Philadelphia fans are realist. They boo based on their expectations. Hamels is expected to give up three or less runs and pitch a minimum of 6 innings in each of his starts. It may not be fair, but that is what the fans expect. Hamels was booed because fans know he can do better.
Most fans know Blanton is expendable, thus they don’t care about him. Phillies fans will be happy with anyone not named Kyle 
Kendrick as the 5th starter of this team.
Lost in Boogate 2011 is the Phillies offense which was the biggest question mark at the start of the season, but appears to be fine. If a Phillies fan was told the team would be 4-1 after 5 games including games in which the offense put up 9,7, and 10 runs, he or she would take that, and immediately yell “WORLD SERIES!!!”
What? Your kidding right? I was at the game and all though you couldnt hear it most of the fans were booing.
I was in left field, first section & also heard the boos rain down.
There’s no excuse for booing Hamels . If the fans want to be considered knowledgeable and a not a bunch of idiots they should act like knowledgeable fans. Unfortunately great teams and players lose every once in a while. Thats why they play the game.
dtime cmon bro its philly! we boo santa clause and the easter bunny!
DTIME are you serious? No excuse??? It was freezing and Hammels gave up 2 hits to the PITCHER in ONE INNING. That is a lack of focus and is inexcuseable. He deserved to be booed because he lost his composure like a child, let the weather effect him, and threw a couple of changeups and one curve ball. Everyone knows what major league players like to hit and it starts with fast and ends with ball.
Sure I’m serious. It is Philly and it’s one of the reasons why we have the rep that we have. Concerning focus how do we know if he lost his focus. Not many of us have played at the major level. This guy pitched the entire season with no run support and never lost his focus. This guy was the World Series MVP and didn’t lose his focus. If this was effort it would be one thing. Give him a break
Hamels deserved to be booed. on another note im not giving up on him. It was one game and its still early. We still have the best pitching rotation in baseball and Hamels is the best 4th pitcher in baseball. Not Chris Young
Boos are every fans right of passage. You make the trip to the game,shell out the loot,cheer for your squad,and rightfully boo them if they disapoint. Theres a difference between losing your composure like a child and just being pi$$ed off about some poor decisions and lack of execution.He shows emotion. Roy does the same damn thing but in a different way. Tough game for Cole. He’ll dominate next outing.
Theres no excuse for not booing the crap outta Fat Joe.Almost blew a great effort from the bats.
Considered by who? A bunch of out a towners who’s baseball teams suck and envy our squad. Everyone who really knows Tri-County sports fans know we’re the most knowledgable sports fans in the country. So what we go over the top sometimes but theres plenty of examples of why we rock. We give a crap about our squads and our players. They know it and recomend playing here to there fellow sportsman.
Go Phills.
BTW….a guy named Doc pitches today. He’ll dominate these bums and we’ll be commenting on it later today.6-2 Phills.
Vricchini, I’m sure Hamel’s can sleep tonight knowing that you haven’t given up on him.
before everyone wets their pants about the Phil 4-1 Start,
Please take a double look at who they opened up with (Astros & Mets) who are both projected to to be low finishers in their respective divisions.. Let’s see these bats continue against the Good Pitching they will face versus the GIants,Reds,Padres,Braves,Brewers,Cardinals,etc,etc…
Erock, I understand your point and It’s a good one about the fans putting their money. But maybe booing when it’s not appropriate is the fans losing their composure.
To me talking about the appropriate time for booing is over the top. Is there a booamter that dictates the level of frustration. Come on…its booing…its the stinking MUTS….too Pauls point…they shouldnt be blowing a lead to those suckers.
Paul…4-1 is 4-1…bring on the Braves.
A: Expectations
The Reds are 5-0 and my pick for the NL Pennant this season
They remind me a lot of the Phils 2-3 years ago, with a lot of players in their primes and hungry to win now (Phillips,Stubbs,Gomes,Votto,Hernandez) and a fantastic Bullpen to shut the door down in the last couple of Innings. Their Starters are young and up and down, but the play hard tall 9 innings long like the Phils and with that offense, give themselves a chance in every game
Boyer
B- Overrated to begin with (Hamels)
To the Booing,
No one seems to have a problem booing at Eagles Games and Eagle Players and Coaches..
But the Phillies are getting like the Flyers where these organization’s are getting “free passes” from the local media and from the ever growing “wine and cheese fans”.. What’s happened to Philly Sports.. even the fans are getting “soft” like Gov Rendell stated…
Sorry about going on and on about this. Fan behavior counts just ask the Lee family. Lee wouldn’t be here if he and his family didn’t thing they were treated in the right way. Maybe it doesn’t affect the player but wives and family are a different thing. One day Hamels will have to make a decision on where he wants to play and maybe he remembers this moment. Just saying
Hamels wants out of Philly and back out home, to the West Coast where he’s from.. I don’t see him re-signing with the Phils when his deal is up..
oooooh, Paulman is a tough guy. Let it be known, Paulman is tough. Let us all bow down to his toughness, and fan his ego
paul, you got a direct line to Cole’s emotions and desires? Wow
Paulman talks out of his arse.
It’s funny how a clown from the mountains of North Carolina who hasn’t been to a philly sports game in 30 years can have such strong opinions about the state of Philly sports. STFU clown.
I watch/keep up with the Phils & Eagles like everybody does since they are TV quite a bit, Video,InterNet and yes, I do go to a couple of games a Season to watch the Phils (my sister works as an Attendant for the Phils/Citizens Park) on my trips I make home every summer..
I’ve seen the Eagles in Charlotte and Atlanta but to be honest, I much prefer football on TV, than live in peson for you miss too much being in person, but that’s just me..
I will continue to call it like it is, whether I am at the beach,the mountains,in a big city, or a small community…This is the deal I made and I plan to fulfill it … .
Gentlemen, we digress. The question from G was why did Joe get a pass on the boo s; the reality is – he didn’t.
it was hamels first star of season clearly we shouldnt have booed him
we all know he is a competitor and no1 felt worse about his performance than him considering the 1st 3 starts by the other guys
i felt bad for him but people pay and will do what they want
i can only speak for myself and noway am i booing our ws mvp in game 1
he’s earned many a pass from me im sorry
Am I wrong or is this Philly? Nothing has changed here and the fans still reserve the right to boo. There is always going to be a section of the stadium that is going to boo a bad performance. Take that away and we are St. Louis who applauds their players no matter what.
Yes it was his first start, but he was bad. If people want to boo him they can. I won’t, but I am not going to tell anyone else that they are wrong. What is the big deal? If his fragile psyche can’t handle it then he is not the pitcher that we think he is.
As far as him getting booed and Hamels not. NO ONE HAS ANY EXCPECTATIONS FOR BLANTON. People expect Hamels to pitch well because he has many times in the past.
And this really wasn’t a big deal until the media blew it way out of proportion.
Can this finally put an end to the McNabb BFFan Club members crying about how unfair and wrong he was treated during his time here. Their whole argument about how McNabb shouldn’t have been booed is done now. Wonder what he thought about this…Hamels did what he never has done for this city and still gets booed after he screws up one game out of a season that consists of 162. If you don’t put your best out on the field, your going to hear it. Case dismissed.
It’s pretty easy when you think about it..
Lots of Philly fans can relate to Blanton, a little portley, a goatee, not the best athlete but gives it all he’ got every time out.. Hamels on the other hand is a good looking west coast guy with a great looking wife who appears pouty,baby-like at like times and gets upsept at every missed called pitch by the umps, frowns when their is an error made behind him and gets too cute pitchign to the batters after getting ahead in the count instead of challenging them with his best stuff which gets him in trouble… Hamels is simply a pretty boy who has good stuff but has been fortunate to play for a good team for all of his career… Put him on an average team and his record is average at best.. He is a #3 or #4 PItcher and not a top end Ace ..
Paulman you must have wrote this at a bar in Montana, Alaska, or wherever the hell you live at..
I don’t think fans here relate to or want to cheer for Blanton at all. Nobody gets hyped when they know he is pitching, unlike Hamels. People know exactly what Blanton is going to give you every game which is barely enough to win. Hamels might not be a top 10 pitcher in the league but he is definately not a 3rd or 4th option on other teams. He is one of the best young lefties in the game today and any scout, writer, or manager would tell you that.
If anybody is fortunate its the phillies. Hamles put the team on his back in 2008 and won us a ring. The one thing we crave more than anything in this city right? the one thing we base everything off of..the one thing that this city was dying to have for years and years. Hamels gave that to us with his MVP performances. Without him we would of never won it all.
And if Hamels was so fortunate like you say, he would have won easily 20 games last year. But the players you speak of that he is so lucky to play with could barely score 2 runs last year when he pitched. I’m not a baseball guy but I think the guy had the best ERA of his career last year. When he ptiches bad, you and me have every right to boo the guy for that moment he screwed up. But don’t discount what he did in his career and for what he gave this city because you think he is better lookin than you and cuz you are upset that he goes home to a playboy model everynight.
I actually introduced that Playboy model to him.. She was more of a whiner than Hamels is, so I thought they would make a great couple..
On a serious note, Hamles can become a top #2 of the Staff type of Pitcher, but he has to learn to challenge batters and not waste pitches and pooped himself out.. Every game it appears he is already laboring by the 3rd Inning, Go after them, use that slider and curve ball in fastball counts, HE is way too predictable and has a lack of confidence in his stuff and he’s not a kid anymore, This is what his 4-5 th Season in the Big Leagues.. I know he started young, but he needs to man-up and pitch like the talent we all know he has.. and he did had very poor run support last years and should have had 4-5-6 more Wins easily.. Let’s see what he does this season, He had 3-4 poor outings to end Spring Ball in Florida and a bad one to start the Season, let’s see how he performs next time out.. His issues are all mental and not physical.. Hamels will be the key for the PHils Staff if they are to win a WS in 2011,
Backtracking already paulman on your prediction about the phils this season. More backtracking to come
Not backtracking Jakedog,
I am a Phillies fan and want them to win, this doesn’t mean that I see other good teams in the NL that they will have to beat..On Paper, the Phils should walk away in the NL East, but they won’t it will be a struggle for everything that any Philaldephia team does is always a struggle.. I look for the Braves to beat them out at then end due to their strong BUllpen and stronger bench though they have gotten off to a slow start and have lost SP Jurgens who is on the DL.. But all teams will go thru injurues.. The Betst overall team in the NL this year I think will be the Cincinnati Reds, they have a blend of youth,speed,power and great Defense and a great Bullpen too, their Starts are young and inconsistent but they remeind me a lot of the Phils from 2-3 years ago, they have a solid nucleaus that’s been together a couple of years now while most of them are still in their prime.. I am excited the Phils are off to a quick start at 5-1,even though they came against the Astros and Mets who may end up being basement teams in their Divisions when the Seasons over.. but a win is a win and I look forward to see how the hit and play versus the better teams . The Rockies,Marlins,Pirates,Brewers,Cubs are all improved teams from a year ago to go along with already strong teams in the Giants,Dodgers,Braves,Cardinals so it should be a very exciting year for Baseball and for the Phils.. If Rollins and Hamels have good Seasons, the Phils will run away with the NL East, If they don’t it will get interesting..