As Hamels matures, he is going to be a force to be reckoned with.
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>I'd love to believe that - Hamels has great stuff.
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>But over the last few years, the Philly organization has had so many potential young guns that either washed out, or haven't come close to reaching full potential:
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>Brandon Duckworth
>Brett Myers
>Randy Wolf
>Vicente Padilla
>Gavin Floyd

Duckworth flopped. Myers is now starting to live up to his hype--remember that he's only about 25. Before his injury, Wolf was one of the best (if not, the best) young lefty around.

Padilla didn't come through the Phillies organization, so I don't think it's the same situation. (He was acquired in the Schilling trade.)

As for Floyd, it's too soon to tell. He's, what, 22? 23?

The thing for a lot of these young pitchers (and it seems particularly true for Hamels) is that until they get to the majors, they're always so much better than the batters that they don't get to learn the things they need to. We're seeing that with Hamels for sure. In the minors, he rarely had to pitch with runners on base, or figure out how to pull himself together after giving up a big hit. Now he's learning.

We saw the same thing with Myers and, in fact, based on recent events, I'd say controlling his emotions is a big issue for him. If he can learn how, he'll be incredible (and, I suspect, a better husband and father).

It'll be interesting to see how Wolf does when he comes back this week. They claim that Tommy John surgery actually makes the arm stronger.

>Ryan Madson shows promise, so the jury is still out. But with Hamels and Madson, I worry about them throwing their arms out.

On the whole, I wonder about the training regimen of the Phillies. It seems to me that injuries have been far too much of a problem over the last few years.

>I'm beginning to think the problems go way beyond Charlie Manuel or Larry Bowa (even though neither is a good MLB manager, especially Cholly). I think there are serious questions about the way this organization is generally run, including things like scouting, trainers, etc.

Those are certainly questions that have to be asked. Nonetheless, things are better than they were, say, 10 years ago. The Phillies have built a decent minor league system, so that this year, a significant number of their players are home-grown.

In the meantime, what a joy to watch Utley and Howard play, and we're even enjoying Bell's current hot streak.

Tamar