Adrian Fedkiw
The All-Star Game is back where Cole Hamels grew up and the southpaw is living a childhood dream by playing in the game that’s in San Diego.
The former Phillie spoke with Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com to discuss the Phillies’ rebuild and what he misses about Philadelphia.
Hamels, of course, was sent to the Texas Rangers along with reliever Jake Diekman prior to last year’s trade deadline for a package of six players, which included catcher Jorge Alfaro, outfielders Nick Williams and Alec Asher and pitchers Jake Thompson, Jerad Eickhoff and Matt Harrison.
The 32-year-old, who made his fourth All-Star team and first one with the Rangers, believes the Phillies are headed in the right direction and the electricity that reverberated inside Citizen’s Bank Park during the peak years will return.
“I miss the sellouts,” he said. “I miss the energy, the energy around the city when the team is going well. Every day you woke up and people were excited to talk about the game. They couldn’t wait to get tickets to go to the game or talk about last night’s game, just the importance of baseball in that everyday life. It made you feel like you were doing something great.
“Now they’re rebuilding and I think they are doing it right. That city’s going to love it. When you see [the electricity] again, it’s going to be great.”
Hamels also stated that he keeps in touch with some of his teammates and had some encouraging things to say about Aaron Nola, who’s been struggling as of late.
“He’s good,” Hamels said of Nola. “He really is. He’s had success. He will figure it out. It’s a chess match. Sometimes the opposing team gets you a little bit before you finally figure it out. If you don’t lose that confidence, that’s how you get yourself to another elite level. And he’ll be there.”
And what was it like being back in the postseason for Texas last year, which was regular occurrence for the Phillies from 2007-11?
“Being able to be in that environment — sellout crowds, the intensity of every out and every run — that’s what gets the adrenaline flowing. That’s what makes the sacrifices that we make in the offseason and spring training worth it.”
Hamels still looks very strange in that Texas uniform.