I had only recently come around to Jason Hammel, bumping him up to 68th in my starting pitcher rankings (which is basically must-own) at last update. No chance I'm backing off after one rocky start. And neither should you.
What if you had when he allowed five earned runs in 5 1/3 innings at St. Louis May 15? What about when he followed it up with two more less-than-quality starts, pitching 5 2/3 innings in each? You would have missed him pitching seven shutout innings in his next two starts, which affirmed, at least to me, that he's here to stay.
Which isn't to say he won't regress at all. If I honestly expected him to finish with a 2.81 ERA, 0.98 WHIP and 8.2 strikeouts per nine innings, I wouldn't rank him only 68. For his numbers to normalize, he'll need to have occasional starts like Wednesday's.
But consider where he fell short exactly. He didn't issue a bunch of walks, which has been the biggest key to his success far. He still struck out six in nine innings. He gave up 11 hits, sure, but that happens from time to time for pitchers who throw as many strikes as he does and isn't necessarily a reflection of how well he pitched. If it continues, it's a problem, but after one start, it's no reason to sound the alarm.