BOX SCORE
DENVER ? There were so many scouts behind the backstop at Coors Field on Sunday afternoon that you could have built a campfire and made smores.
Oh, wrong kind of scouts.
These were baseball scouts, you know, the kind with straw hats, stop watches, radar guns, and questionable wardrobes. All the relevant chapters were present: Texas, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Miami, San Francisco, the Dodgers and Angels. There were more than that, in fact.
This is what happens when two last-place teams meet less than three weeks before the trade deadline. Vultures show up looking to pick carcasses. Sunday?s matinee had more last-place intrigue than usual because the hottest name on the trade market was one of the featured performers.
Cole Hamels put on a show for the scouts, leading the Phillies to a 5-1 win over the Rockies (see Instant Replay). Pitching in Denver?s smoking-hot, light air, the lefty went eight innings, walked one and struck out seven.
The win marked the first time since June 25-26 that the desperate Phillies have won two in a row. It marked their first series win since June 19-21.
?This is big for us, to come back from the break and take a series,? manager Charlie Manuel said. ?Hopefully we can get to Los Angeles and win tomorrow.
?I don?t know if you call two games a winning streak or not, but we do. Three would look better. Three would be kind of official.?
The last time the Phillies saw the Dodgers, whom they open a three-game series against Monday night, they were swept in four games in Philadelphia.
This trip to Los Angeles promises to be eventful. The Dodgers will likely be a big player for Hamels on the free-agent market this winter and even though he?s not pitching in the series, his presence in Chavez Ravine will cause plenty of buzz. The Dodgers also have a hole at shortstop and Jimmy Rollins could be of interest to them as the trade deadline approaches. Yes, Rollins had 10-and-5 no-trade rights, but do you think a call from Dodgers part owner Magic Johnson might get his attention?
The trade buzz surrounding the Phillies is understandable because of the plight they?ve put themselves in. The only thing that will convince management not to sell is a major run in the next two weeks. Maybe two wins in Colorado was a start, but ? we?ve been fooled before.
Hamels? trade candidacy is not tied to the team?s performance these next couple of weeks. The Phils are ?trying like heck,? according to one source, to sign Hamels to a contract extension before the July 31 trade deadline. If they can?t do that, they may have to deal him for prospects. That?s why all the scouts were in Coors Field on Sunday. One of them was Don Welke of the Rangers, a team that sources say want Hamels badly. The Dodgers, having scratched Chad Billingsley from his start Sunday because of a sore elbow, could also look to trade for Hamels. The Angels like him, too.
For what it?s worth, Manuel thinks there?s a good chance that Hamels stays a Phillie.
?I feel good about that, but we?ll see,? Manuel said. ?I know the Phillies want to keep him and in a lot of ways he wants to stay, but also you don?t become a free agent often and nowadays a lot of guys like to go out on the market. We?ll see. I think he wants to stay with us.?
Hamels has played the free-agent game perfectly, keeping everything down the middle. The off-field buzz about his future has been a challenge to Hamels? focus, but he?s handled it well.
?I?m not thinking about it,? he said. ?Everybody is going to keep asking about it, so I just have to go out and do my own business and pitch in ballgames every five days. I think that?s all I can be accountable for.
?I get to control my own destiny, so [the contract talk] is the least of my worries. I know if I stay healthy and I?m able to pitch, I know I?ll be able to do well and I?ll be able to do it for a really long time and everything else will kind of fall into place.?
Manuel isn?t surprised Hamels has maintained his focus with so much going on. Other potential Phillies? free agents, namely Shane Victorino, have not performed as well.
?That?s why he?s good,? Manuel said of Hamels. ?That right there is why he pitches good. If you can?t handle it ? what the hell? You know what, if you can?t handle stuff at big moments of the game what happens? We?re going to lose. That?s what a professional is supposed to be.?
Victorino is actually heating up. After going a month without an extra-base hit, he has three in the last two games. Hunter Pence, another cold Phillie, might also be heating up. He broke an 0-for-13 skid by fighting back from an 0-2 count to smack a three-run homer in the fifth inning Sunday afternoon.
A big pitching performance from Hamels. Some big hits. A series win. Was it a glimmer of hope or just a temporary reprieve from all the losing?
?I?ve always got a glimmer of hope,? Manuel said. ?I'm a positive guy. In this game, in the job I have, you better be positive.
?I just get a little ticked off at times.?
E-mail Jim Salisbury at jsalisbury@comcastsportsnet.com
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