Billy Williams and Glenn Beckert were on the phone minutes after Cole Hamels tossed the first no-hitter against the Cubs in 50 years Saturday.
“Beckert and I were talking, and we always say: Good pitching will beat good hitters any time,” Williams told the Tribune by phone after the Phillies prevailed 5-0 at Wrigley Field.
Sandy Koufax pitched a perfect game against the Cubs on Sept. 9, 1965, at Dodger Stadium, and Williams remembers it as if it were last week’s nightmare.
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“I could sense how every Cubs player felt today, trying to be the one to get a hit,” the Hall of Fame outfielder said. “It brought back a lot of memories. These Cubs are a fastball hitting team, and Hamels was mixing up his pitches. And a lot of the young guys hadn’t faced him.”
Williams said he and Beckert, the former Cubs second baseman, recalled after the game that the players just said “the guy had great stuff.”
“And today Cole Hamels had everything going,” Williams said. “But we didn’t let Koufax’s perfect game affect us the rest of that season. It didn’t make any difference.”
Joe Maddon had a similar message for his Cubs players Saturday.
“(The no-hitter) has nothing to do with anything … the price of tea in China or wherever you want to go with it,” the Cubs manager said. “It has nothing to do with anything. It has everything to do with we lost. That’s it. He pitched really well, and credit is to him.”
Hamels dispatched the Cubs on 129 pitches, 83 for strikes. He received some defensive help, especially from center fielder Odubel Herrera, who made a nice catch on David Ross’ drive toward the vines in the eighth, and also snagged Kris Bryant’s warning-track shot to end the game.
Despite Hamels’ recent struggles (14 runs on 20 hits in 6 1/3 innings over two outings), Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz said he had a feeling Saturday would be different.
“It was in the sixth inning, that’s when I felt like something special was going to happen today,” Ruiz said.
“Today was vintage Cole Hamels,” Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said. “He had everything going for him.”
Regarding the effect of trade rumors on Hamels’ performance with the deadline Friday, Mackanin said: “He looked like he was extremely focused. He looked focused in the past, and I think he may have been trying too hard not to pitch poorly.
“I think he just made his mind up that he is going to be who he is and ‘I’m going to do what I do best.’ He looked like he was on a mission.”
Saturday was the first time the Cubs had been no-hit at Wrigley Field since Aug. 19, 1965, when the Reds’ Jim Maloney did the trick over 10 innings.
The Cubs had gone 49 full seasons without being no-hit, the longest span in major-league history.
“Everybody worries about a lot of different things that I don’t worry about,” Maddon said. “And for me it’s about coming back (Sunday) and get after it and at least win one out of three. I (won’t give the no-hitter) any more weight.”
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