Lauber: Newfangled pitching stat shows Cole Hamels wasn’t much different than last season

But will Phillie fans find a new way to mauk this newfangledness?

Upon winning the American League Cy Young Award last week, Kansas City Royals ace Zack Greinke endeared himself to new-age statistical analysts everywhere.

Indirectly, he also may have explained Cole Hamels’ struggles.

During a conference call Tuesday with members of the Baseball Writers Association of America, the group that bestows and presents the Cy Young Award, Greinke said the metric he values above all others—more than innings pitched, earned run average, even wins—is FIP.

...Charlie Manuel suggests Hamels’ poor results in 2009 were more attributable to a loss of focus and rotten luck than a dropoff in stuff. And for all the credible talk about Hamels’ need to develop his curveball to make his fastball-changeup combination less predictable, pitching coach Rich Dubee believes he mostly needs to focus only on the things he can control.

In Game 1 of the NL Championship Series, Hamels flailed his arms and pounded his mitt in exasperation after Chase Utley made a throwing error. One batter later, he hung a pitch that Manny Ramirez crushed into the left-field seats.

Hamels’ head—not his arm—let him and the Phillies down.

Hamels’ FIP appears to back that notion. He posted a 4.32 ERA in 32 starts. But according to The Hardball Times, his FIP was 3.71, practically identical to his 3.70 FIP from 2008 when he posted a 3.09 ERA.

So, maybe Manuel and Dubee are right. Maybe Hamels’ stuff was nearly as good, but poor focus in the face of even worse luck conspired to cause his demise.