Strong Outing By Hamels

Cole Hamels went 6 very strong innings this afternoon, striking out 7 and walking none against the Tampa Bay Rays. The sole blemish on his performance was a 2-out HR by probable Rookie of the Year candidate Evan Longoria. The most important to me in this performance was the 7K/0 BB ratio that Hamels was able to put up. When Hamels is on, he is one of the most dominating pitchers in baseball and his changeup is almost unhittable. Between Hamels and Myers the Phillies have a very solid 1-2 punch and will be very tough to beat in a 5 game series. Unfortunately, after Hamels and Myers, its a different story. Moyer should have at least one more year of league-average pitching in him and will make a decent #3 guy. Huge question marks start with Kendrick at #4 and the Eaton/Benson/Rosario/Castro quagmire for the #5 slot.

The Phillies hitting has continued to struggle but there have been several glimmers of hope in the last couple of days. Going into today, the projected starters had put 2 very solid games in a row together. Today, the starting lineup went 4-20 through the first 6 innings. However, they were very efficient by putting up 4 runs on only 4 hits so their situational hitting was solid today.

Frankly, I'm not concerned about the hitting at all. I know that it will come together and that the Phillies lineup will be scary again this year despite the much whined about departure of Aaron Rowand. You have to wonder about a guy that would leave a playoff team to willingly sign a long-term deal with one of the worst teams in the National League. A full year of Victorino and the Jenkins/Werth platoon along with a fully healthy Ryan Howard should erase any memories of Rowand's performance.

In closing, its a very good sign to see Hamels finally face a big league lineup and dominate it for 6 innings and it should help the confidence of the rest of the rotation to have two very solid starters to anchor them this season.