Down goes Hamels?

It looked like the old Cole Hamels was back today, pitching against the Brewers in a "businessperson's special" at Citizens Bank Park. Through the first three innings, he shut out the Brewers on one hit, while striking out six and reportedly hitting 91 mph on the radar gun.
Then, in the 4th, after surrendering a 2-run homer to red-hot Ryan Braun (the Phillies' starter now has given up a home run in all 14 games this season), Hamels took a line drive from Brewers' first baseman Prince Fielder off his left arm.
I am at work and cannot see the game, but reports I've read say that the ball did not hit Hamels' shoulder or elbow, but the fleshier part of the upper arm. The Phillies immediately removed Hamels from the game, hopefully as a precautionary measure. If that's all it is, and I hope so, the Phillies made the right call as taking a line drive from Fielder must be a world of hurt, and the Phillies don't need Hamels messing up his motion by trying to pitch thru pain.
J.A. Happ is on in long relief and I'll suspect he'll do just fine - if the Phillies' bats wake up, maybe they can even come back and take this game. But the bigger concern is Hamels' health and how many starts, if any, he might miss.

Elijah Dukes: The next big thing?

One of my favorite parts of being a baseball fan is discovering a new player to follow. Not that Elijah Dukes, the Washington Nationals centerfielder, is all that new but I think he is poised to reach a different level this season - that level being stardom.

He hit home runs in each game of the Phillies recently concluded two-game split with the Nats in Washington. Last night's game, an 8-2 Nats win, wasn't much fun from the perspective of a Phillies fan, but I did enjoy watching Dukes' majestic home run in the 8th inning. Off the bat, I thought he had hit it onto the concourse if not farther - it actually landed in the Phillies bullpen. Too much loft I suppose, but it was still an impressive power display.

But not as impressive as what Dukes did Monday, when he reached down for a low and outside Clay Condrey slider and pretty much flicked it over the left field fence, mostly with the strength of his front arm and hand. That was one of the most remarkable feats I've ever seen in a baseball game. Elijah Dukes just brims with talent in all areas of the game - hitting, power, plate discipline, defense, running, throwing.

Right now, Ryan Zimmerman is the face of the Nationals to a point, and maybe Adam Dunn will be for a year or two. But longer-term, I think Dukes will be the player to put the Nationals in the spotlight - he's an Evgeni Malkin, LeBron James, LaDainian Tomlinson kind of talent for baseball, maybe the next Junior Griffey.

I'm heading out to Nationals Stadium again on Saturday and with the Phillies not the opponent this time, I'm planning to give a lot of focus to Elijah Dukes as he and his teammates take on the Florida Marlins.

Are there any goalies out there?

This is the time of year when Flyers' fans typically start despairing about what our team has in goal. With Marty Biron letting in at least one soft one in last night's 4-1 playoff loss to Pittsburgh, I have to think the Flyers are thinking about letting Biron walk when his contract expires this summer. That would leave Antero Nittymaki and Scott Munroe.

With the Bruins having re-signed Tim Thomas, it's become fashionable to say that this summer's market for free agent goalies is weak. Weak, perhaps, but not empty.

I believe at least the following two goalies are free agents this summer:

Manny Fernandez, Boston. He does turn 35 in August, but he has a career 2.50 GAA and .912 save percentage. This year, backing up Thomas, he posted 2.59 and .910, so he appears to be aging fairly well.

Craig Anderson, Florida. He's 28 and has put in a lot of time in the minors. But for Florida this year, he put up a 2.56 GAA and an eye-catching .925 save percentage. Career NHL averages are 2.87 and .911.

I also wonder if the Islanders' Yann Danis will be available. Rick DiPietro should be back next year and based on playing time, the Isles seem to like Joey McDonald better than Danis. I was impressed with Danis every time I saw him and for a very bad team, he put up a 2.86 GAA and a .910 save percentage.

If the Flyers need to move a forward for cap reasons this summer, maybe a Lupul for Danis trade would be worth proposing.

Anderson and Danis are both 28, BTW.

Goodbye, Harry Kalas

If you want to know what Harry Kalas meant to several generations of Phillies phans, just read this thread from the Web site BackSheGoes.com

http://www.backshegoes.com/bsg/viewtopic.php?p=609033#609033

Hopefully, Harry and Whitey Ashburn are having a good laugh together and getting ready to watch the Phillies/Nats game from a cloud somewhere.

RIP to the Voice of the Phillies.

Championships - I could get used to this

Congratulations to Penn State Men's Basketball for winning the NIT title last night. As bitter a disappointment as not making the NCAA Tournament was, maybe someday winning the 2009 NIT will be seen as a corner turned for the program and a better experience, overall, than, say, losing in the first round of the NCAAs to Marquette or someone like that.

In winning the NIT, Penn State beat George Mason, Rhode Island, Florida, Notre Dame and Baylor. Note to Ed DeChellis: Had you played a non-con schedule like that and won just three of those, you would've been invited to the dance. It's on you, not your players.

Thank you to Jamelle Cornley, Stanley Pringle and Danny Morrissey for 4 years of great memories - and thank you Talor Battle for picking Penn State.

Flyers-Leafs TV reminder

For out-of-town Flyers fans like myself, it's worth noting that tonight's Flyers game at Toronto (7:30, EDT) is not on the NHL Center Ice package. That's because the TSN (Canada's version of ESPN) telecast is being picked up by the NHL Network. So you can see the game on the NHL Network, if you get that, or pull in the TSN telecast on the dish.

Ironically, I'm sure there are some people who pay the $160 for Center Ice but don't shell out the $5 a month or whatever Comcast charges for the digital sports tier that includes NHL Network, and therefore won't get to see tonight's game.

Not to sound like a "Comcastic" commercial, but the sports tier now includes NHL Network, MLB Network, NBA TV, Tennis Channel, Fox Soccer, three Fox regional college sports channels, GOL TV, ESPN Classic, and for a while at least, the NFL Network, although Comcast expects to lose its access to that channel on May 1. The sports tier also includes the Big Ten Network in Big Ten states, which luckily for me somehow includes Maryland.

Even without the NFL Network, I think the Comcast sports tier is the best bargain this side of, well, a daily newspaper. Which is a different topic for a different day.