"My first time, you're just going out there and you kind of have to go out with [the mentality of], 'What do you have to lose?'" Hamels said. "You don't know what success tastes like yet, because you haven't had it. You don't know what winning a World Series is like, so you're just going out there and, I think, enjoying the moment. That's what I did. And then when you actually know what it's all about, I think that's when you can kind of get yourself in a little bit of trouble."
Hamels had more postseason experience by his 28th birthday than many other great Major League hurlers get for their careers.