| Brian Poliakoff. 8th May, 2006 - 9:07 am
 The Philadelphia Phillies are blazing hot right now, but there’s someone who can make them even better – AAA Scranton left hander Cole Hamels.
After the southpaw’s 10 strike out, one run no decision on Sunday, Hamels is now 2-0 with 36 K’s in 23 innings since being called up to AAA on April 25th.
Granted, the 2002 first round pick has had his fair share of injury battles since joining the Philadelphia organization. However the now healthy Hamels is clearly dominating minor league batters. If he’s going to get hurt up in the big leagues, why wouldn't the same thing happen down in Scranton?
With the first place Mets coming to town, the Phillies are now four games out of the NL East top spot. The Phils are playing great baseball in their current 8 game win streak, but Phillies GM Pat Gillick has the chance to make his team even better by calling up Hamels now.
The Phillies brass brought Gillick in to right a ship that has been wrong for a very long time.
His success in Toronto, Baltimore and Seattle show he knows how to get the job done. Yet, last week Gillick said he wants to be patient with Hamels and that he would like to see the pitcher respond after at least one bad outing.
I think Philadelphia fans don’t need to hear anything about patience, considering the Phillies have failed to make the playoffs the past 12 seasons.
And my argument hasn’t even touched upon the fact that the pitching staff for the Phillies have a 4.62 ERA (12th in the NL) going in to Sunday night’s game against the Giants.
Gillick shouldn’t owe anything to the current Philly rotation, especially since the entire rotation was inherited from prior management.
I suggest moving Ryan Madsen back to the bullpen.
Madsen is a deceiving 3-1 on paper, but his 6.82 ERA, 23 earned runs in 30 innings and 19-17 strikeout-to-walk ratio won’t cut it for a team that expects to contend all season.
I know he was good enough to help the Phils win their seventh in a row on Saturday night, but he was very shaky, putting runners on in nearly every inning. Ten of the first 16 Giants got on base and Madsen walked four and only struck out two.
I’ll give him credit for getting out of jam after jam, going six innings and surrendering only one run. But for him to win, Madsen had to constantly work hard to get out of tough situations.
Additionally, Madsen showed how effective he is as a late inning relief pitcher over the past three seasons.
The Phillies need to show fans they are committed to winning. In fact, teams that have won the World Series recently have taken chances on kids to help them win pennants.
Last year, the White Sox relied on the rookie Bobby Jenks (called up to the majors in early July) to close games.
In 2003, the Marlins brought up Dontrelle Willis in May and Miguel Cabrera in June to help their squad win a championship.
The ’02 Angles brought up Francisco Rodriguez in September (almost too late) en route to their World Series victory.
These are just a few examples of how kids were thrown into the fire during successful pennant runs.
Gillick should give Hamels a chance.
At the very least, it’ll make the Phils a better ball club now. |
