The Phillies are back up to .500, after their miserable start that's fairly impressive but what's totally impressive is Cole Hamels. He set down the first 18 Brewers, who are SO last week, and struck out 11 in his eight innings of two-hit, two run ball. The 6-2 win was the latest brilliant performance for Hamels and his Grade-A changeup. It's on the Pedro/Trevor Hoffman level and the Brewers were perfectly hopeless against it until Richie Weeks walked and J.J. Hardy homered in the seventh. Hamels is 6-1, the best start by a Phillie since Eric Milton in 2004, and I think I speak for all of Philadelphia when I say it's hoped that Milton isn't a blueprint for the rest of his career.
- C.C. Sabathia wasn't quite so good as Hamels but he was good enough to lead the Indians to an easy 7-1 win against the Twins. Sabathia struck out five, gave up five hits and walked one in eight innings for his sixth win. The Twins were overmatched by the gargantuan lefty so they tried to do anything they could to shake his focus. Their best try was a bunt by Jason Bartlett, figuring Sabathia's big body couldn't make the play, but Bartlett popped up and Sabathia made the catch. Nothing else worked either for the Twins on Wednesday night.
- A.J. Burnett is the next contestant on the showcase showdown of dominant starting pitchers on a Wednesday night in May. He whiffed 10 Orioles and went the distance in Toronto's 2-1 win at the
SkydomeRogers Centre. The Jays reached Oriole rookie Brian Burres for a couple of run-scoring singles in the fourth and fifth but mustered little other offense. That was okay with Burnett, who was stingier with Oriole hitters than America was with tears for Jerry Falwell. - Kenji Johjima is to blame for John Lackey's laggard performance in the best pitcher of the night derby. He lined a ball off Lackey's left ankle in the fifth inning of the Angels 5-0 win in Seattle and that helped force him out of the game after six innings and 90 pitches. The Mariners didn't fare any better against the Angel relievers, obviously, but did you know they actually fared worse? Dustin Moseley and Scot Shields were perfect over the last three innings in the Halo victory.
- And, just so you don't go thinking that every pitcher turned into Bob Feller, the Devil Rays outlasted the Rangers 11-8 at Disneyworld. Vicente Padilla gave up 12 hits and eight runs in four innings which was just bad enough for Casey Fossum to pick up a win despite giving up six runs and nine hits of his own. To be fair though, Padilla spent all day on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and wasn't feeling himself.
(AP Photo/H. Rumph, Jr)
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