Cole Hamels Earns 100th Career Victory

2014 Chachi #42

Phillies 12, Reds 1
Game 40 - Saturday Night, May 17th in Philadelphia
Record - 18-22, 4th Place, 3 1/2 games behind the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  The bats exploded and Cole Hamels recorded his 100th career win as the Phillies dismantled the Reds, 12-1.

What It Means:  12 runs on 13 hits was certainly unexpected, especially given that the Phillies were in the midst of a 23-inning scoreless streak before the outburst.  The win broke a dreadful four-game losing streak.

What Happened:  Cody Asche and Domonic Brown had big nights at the plate.  Asche went 2 for 4 with three RBIs while Brown went 2 for 5 while driving in five, including a two-run home run in the fourth.  The five RBIs for Brown are a career high.  The game also saw the end to several 0-fers for John Mayberry, Jr. (had been 0 for 14), Marlon Byrd (had been 0 for 15) and Tony Gwynn, Jr. (had been 0 for 18).  To cap off the night, Cesar Hernandez hit his first career home run.

2014 Bowman #65

Featured Cards:  If not for the milestone win from Hamels, Brown would have easily earned tonight's featured card.  Since Brown has been ice cold so far this season, I wanted to at least recognize his offensive output with his recently released Bowman card.

Hamels allowed a run on three hits while striking out 10 in his seven innings of work.  He earned his first victory of the season and the 100th victory of his career.  I thought that milestone was deserving of a special card, so I modified the 1988 Topps Record Breakers design into a Season Highlights card in Hamels' honor.

Hamels joins some impressive company as just the seventh Phillies pitcher in history to win 100 games.

1.  Steve Carlton, 241
2.  Robin Roberts, 234
3.  Grover Cleveland Alexander, 190
4.  Chris Short, 132
5.  Curt Simmons, 115
6.  Curt Schilling, 101
7.  Cole Hamels, 100