Coley Moley

Alternate Headline: "Philly Phenom is Phuckin Phantastic"

Thanks to the magic of satellite television, I was able to catch the Phillies/Reds game and the debut of much hyped prospect and sock inventor Cole Hamels. While the game was played in a drizzle, and I was given the Reds broadcast team rather than the legendary Harry Kalas, Hamels did not dissapoint. Before making his major league debut, Hamels did not give up a run in 15 of his 36 minor league starts. After today, he is a perfect 1 for 1 in the majors. Hamels pitched five innings without surrendering a run- allowing only one hit and striking out seven (he did walk five). The lefty does not possess a dominant fastball (it tops around 93) but he did a great job spotting his fastball and changing speeds. In one battle against Ken Griffey Jr, he threw a 91 mph fastball and immediately followed it with a 61 mph offspeed pitch. I think the Fox speedgun was probably screwy, but if that was accurate, that's the kind of change of speeds that's usually only seen in Nintendo's RBI baseball.

The pitcher Hamels replaced in the Phillies rotation is Ryan Madson. Phillies manager called upon Madson to pitch in the sixth to protect a 2-0 lead. Madson responded by giving up two solo shots to tie the game and give Hamels the no decision. If I were a Madson, I'd decline any invitations to hang out in a bar with Cole in the near future.

On another note, watching the Ohio feed, I saw numerous commercials for Skyline Chili and was quite intrigued. Has anyone else eaten there? If I'm able to make it out to Canton in August, I think I'm going to have make a sidetrip out there for a Coney dog and some chili spaghetti. Damn these commercials are really effective, cuz now I'm craving a chili dog (I've got baseball and beer, but no dog). I know some of my readers have Bay Area ties. Can you recommend a good chili dog place in Oakland/Walnut Creek/SF/San Jose? (And don't say Kaspers- there's gotta to be something better to offer than Kaspers out here.)

Sorry for that tangent. Where was I? Oh yeah- Rancho Bernardo prospect Cole Hamels. He's the next Steve Carlton and the savior of the Phillies franchise. No pressure.