So the good folks at Minute Maid Park, maybe the best place to work among ballparks this year, once again had a great pre-game spread for the media contingent.

Breakfast at the ballpark - with a kind fella making up omelets - is pretty good stuff on the last day of a road trip. But in the irony of ironies... no orange juice.

Yup, no orange juice at Minute Maid Park.

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Cole Hamels will take the mound shortly with a chance to go three straight games without allowing a run. That's pretty impressive.

Then again, Hamels is one of the best pitchers in the league. With the way Brett Myers id going, you could probably make the argument that Hamels is the most indispensable player on the Phillies.

The Phillies have survived without the services of Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins at different times in the last 12 months. If Brad Lidge were to go down, they could probably move Myers back to the pen and find a starter anywhere who could give them what Myers is currently giving them.

But without Hamels, this team could be toast.

I was just reading Jayson Stark's latest column on ESPN.com - this is required reading, by the way, as no writer has a better handle on the Phillies - and this is what a unnamed scout told Stark:

"Hamels probably has better stuff than (Johan) Santana," the scout said, "because he's got a better breaking ball. The only thing that's keeping Cole Hamels from being a premium, premium guy is health."

Hamels has thrown 19 straight shutout innings entering Sunday. The way he's going, no one would be shocked if that number turns into 28.

Then again, he has to get through Lance Berkman a few times... and Berkman is hotter at the plate right now than Hamels is on the mound.

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The Archive Files

Brett Myers wasn't perfect, but the Phillies offense was punchless in a defeat to the Astros Saturday that included a wild finish - the Phils had runners on second and third with no outs, but failed to score a run.

Talk about not hitting with runners in scoring position...



In the Sunday notes column, the Florida Marlins, who the Phils will play for the first time this season on Friday, are in first place - and who woulda thunk that? Also updates on the white-hot Delco native Taylor Buchholz (who is also in town this week), and more, including your weekly dose of trivia.

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The Sunday YouTube Clip of the Week

This is an oldie but a goodie... and it has no relation to anything going on right now.

Still, it's well done. Unless your a Red Sox fan.