2013 Finest '93 Finest #93F-CH Cole Hamels

Phillies 8, Reds 0
Game 59 - Friday Night, June 6th in Cincinnati 
Record - 25-34, 5th Place, 7 games behind the Braves 

One Sentence Summary:  Cole Hamels delivered a vintage Hamelsian performance, as the Phillies beat the Reds, 8-0, snapping their six-game losing streak.

What It Means:  If Hamelsian isn’t already a word, it should be.

What Happened:  Hamels pitched into the eighth inning, scattering five hits and striking out seven during his outing.  The ice cold bat of Domonic Brown showed some life, as he contributed a two-run double in the fourth to start the Phillies scoring.  Chase Utley had three hits to raise his batting average to .320.

Featured Card:  For over a decade now, Topps has been mining from and re-using its own baseball card designs from its over sixty years in the business.  So I guess it was only a matter of time before they started turning to set designs from other than their flagship offerings.  This Hamels card was from an insert set included within the 2013 Finest set, called '93 Finest.  To the uninitiated perhaps stumbling across this here blog, the title of this post probably seems like some sort of strange, nerdy baseball card code.

2013 Choice Lehigh Valley
IronPigs Update #9

But rest assured, dear reader, the name of the set from which this card hails is 2013 Finest '93 Finest, given that the set is an homage to the original Finest set released in 1993.  The "number" of the card follows the pattern Topps has used recently with many of its insert sets by using a prefixed abbreviation of the set's name, followed by the player's initials.  I'm glad we've cleared that up.

Transactions:  In a flurry of roster moves, the Phillies purchased the contract of infielder Ronny Cedeno, designated both reliever Cesar Jimenez and outfielder Tyson Gillies for assignment and activated reliever Luis Garcia from the disabled list and optioned him to Triple-A.  The Gillies news only solidifies the fact that the original Cliff Lee trade with the Mariners was a complete and total bust.

Gillies ended up clearing waivers and reporting back to the IronPigs, but with his .217 average and history of behavioral problems, does it really matter at this point?

New to the 40-Man Roster

2010 Topps Pro Debut #424, 2010 Bowman Prospects #BP19,
2010 Bowman Sterling Prospects #BSP-SV and 2011 Multi-Ad Reading Phillies #7

The Phillies added four players to their 40-man roster yesterday, protecting them from the upcoming Rule 5 draft, to be held next month - righty Phillippe Aumont, lefty Jake Diekman, catcher Sebastian Valle and outfielder Tyson Gillies.

Aumont and Gillies comprise two-thirds of the return on the ill-fated Cliff Lee deal with the Mariners.  The decision to trade away Lee, who would come back to the Phils as a free-agent, was made to free up cash and re-stock the farm system.  If either Aumont and Gillies end up playing a key role with the Phillies, maybe, just maybe, the Lee deal will be considered to have been somewhat worthwhile.

Aumont split 2011 between Double-A and Triple-A, pitching 43 games in relief with a 2.68 ERA.  He struck out 78 while walking only 25 and he allowed just 2 home runs over 53 2/3 innings pitched.  Aumont was recently ranked the 5th best prospect in the Phillies system by Baseball America and he's got a real shot at breaking camp with the Phils in March.  Gillies missed all but three games of the 2011 season with a combination hamstring/groin/hip injury.

Catcher Sebastian Valle, number three on the Baseball America list, has been in the Phillies system for five seasons, but he has yet to play above Single-A.  In just 91 games at Clearwater last year, he hit .284 with 5 home runs.

Left-hander Jake Diekman has emerged pretty much out of nowhere.  He spent 2011 with Double-A Reading, pitching to a 3.05 ERA over 53 relief appearances.  His strikeout to walk ratio was too high (83 to 44), but he's had a fairly successful campaign in the Arizona Fall League.  As of yesterday, Diekman had appeared in 11 games for the Scottsdale Scorpions where he has a 0.79 ERA and 2 saves.