Scranton Wilkes-Barre’s Cole Hamels, a 2002 first round amateur draft pick of the Philadelphia Phillies, threw a 114 pitch, complete game, two-hit, shutout of Richmond earlier today, the Red Barons winning the matinee, 5-0. Hamels struck out 12 and walked only one.
The parent club can only gaze wistfully at Hamels’ performance in light of Jon Lieber’s ineffectiveness tonight against Florida (9 hits, 5 earned runs in 6 innings), as the Marlins lead the Phillies 5-4 in the top of the 7th. Florida’s Dan Uggla is 3 for 3 with a stolen base ; Philly’s Jimmy Rollins has hit his 3rd HR of the season.
(UPDATE : Aaron Rowland’s bases-clearing triple in the 7th put the Phillies ahead, 7-5. Tom Gordon is on in the bottom of the 9th vying for his 8th save)
Hamels is having far more success against AAA batters than Jon Lieber and Ryan Madson have been lately as yesterdays outing followed up 7 innings shutout innings vs Norfolk with 14 K’s. Pat Gillick responded to the growing clamor by stating that Hamels needs to show that he can get knocked around in a start and bounce back before he is ready for the bigs. There may be a long wait as Hamels has yet to be chased during his minor league career. Translation: “If we bring him up before June 1st, we lose a year towards arbritation/free-agency”.