Eickhoff 1 – Hamels 0

Who Robbed Whom?

Jerad Eickhoff threw six shutout innings in his major league debut last night in Miami to pitch the Phillies to a 7-1 win over the Marlins.

If the name Jerad Eickhoff sounds foreign to you, he was part of the trade that sent Cole Hamels to the Texas Rangers a few hours before the trade deadline. The Rangers got Hamels and lefty setup man Jake Diekman. The Phillies got five prospects:

Cather Jorge Alfaro
Outfielder Nick Williams
Pitcher Alec Asher
Pitcher Jake Thompson
Pitcher Jerad Eickhoff

Stick to Business

Josh Benjamin wrote about the trade for Forbes magazine with a piece entitled “Texas Rangers Made Out Like Bandits In Cole Hamels Trade.” From the early returns on this deal, I think that Forbes should stick to business and finance.

Jerad Eickhoff won his first start as a Phillie.
Nick Williams is batting .352 at Reading.
Alec Asher is 1-0 in three games at Lehigh Valley with a 2.84 ERA.
Jake Thompson is 3-1 in four starts at Reading with a 2.08 ERA.
Jorge Alfaro – who’s supposed to be the plum of the trade – is on the DL recovering from a broken bone.
Jake Diekman is 0-0 in 11 games with the Ranger with a 2.38 ERA.
Cole Hamels is 0-1 in his first three starts with the Rangers with a 5.23 ERA.

In Command

Jerad Eickhoff was in command the whole way. He gave up five hits, struck out five, and walked one. He ran into trouble twice, but he pitched his way out both times.

Dee Gordon tripled with two outs in the bottom of the third when the game was still scoreless. But he got Ichiro Suzuki to fly out to center to end the threat and the inning.

With two on and nobody out in the bottom of the sixth, he bore down and got Martin Prado to line out to center before striking out both Justin Bour and Marcell Ozuna to put out the fire.

He was also the beneficiary of a fine relay from Cody Asche to Freddy Galvis to Cameron Rupp – which ended with Rupp making a leaping catch and diving tag to nip Justin Bour inches from home plate.