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International League names players of the week

July 17, 2006 - International League (IL1) News Release


The International League announced today that Scranton/Wilkes-Barre third baseman Brennan King and Durham pitcher Jason Hammel have been named the League's Batter and Pitcher-of-the-Week for the period from July 10-16. King becomes the third member of the 51-43 Red Barons to win an IL weekly award in 2006, following Cole Hamels (April 24-30, May 1-7) and Eude Brito (July 3-9). Hammel is now the second Durham Bull to be so honored, joining Kevin Witt (May 22-28).

In a week shortened to four games by the Triple-A All-Star break, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre's BRENNAN KING turned in a career night Saturday in the midst of a very good series against the Toledo Mud Hens. In Thursday's opener, King blasted a two-run homer in the 6th, his 8th long ball of the season. It wasn't enough that night, as the Hens prevailed 6-5, but it would be Toledo's last win in the four-game set. Friday night's contest started out as a good night for King but quickly developed into something special. He singled to centerfield in his first at-bat leading off the 2nd, then followed with a two-out RBI double in the 3rd to put his club ahead 2-0. In the 5th, King came to the plate with the bases loaded, and tripled home all three runners. He later scored on a single, making it 6-0 Red Barons. The next inning the bases were loaded again when King came up with two outs, but this time he popped out to end the inning. King's next trip to the plate came in the 7th, and once again the bases were full of Red Barons. He drilled his 9th homer of the year over the left-field wall for a grand slam. With the bomb, King became just the second player in franchise history to record a cycle (Jon Zuber, 5/1/97). Brennan finished his amazing night 4-5 with a double, triple, and a grand slam to go along with 8 RBI, just one shy of a Red Barons record (Mark Budzinski, 7/25/04). Scranton/Wilkes-Barre won 14-2. King couldn't quite duplicate his career effort Saturday night, but he still managed a 3-4 evening with two doubles, 2 RBI, and two runs scored. In just one series, King raised his average from .266 to .281, the highest he's been hitting since May 9.

25-year-old Brennan King signed with the Phillies as a free agent in the offseason and was assigned out of spring training to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for his first taste of Triple-A Baseball. In his first seven years as a pro, King hit .266 with 43 HR and 301 RBI.

Durham Bulls right-hander JASON HAMMEL entered his start yesterday looking for his first victory since May 8. It had been 11 starts since his last win, during which time he was 0-6. As Hammel shut down the Columbus Clippers Sunday inning after inning, it began to look like this might finally be his night. He was given a three-run cushion in the 2nd that grew to four runs in the 6th, and to that point the Clippers had managed only a walk to Bronson Sardinha in the 6th. Hammel battled through two more tough innings without allowing a hit, though Columbus got a walk in the 7th and an error followed by a hit batsman in the 8th. Hammel retired Kevin Thompson to begin the 9th, but then hit a man. The next batter reached on a play in which two fielding errors put runners on the corners with just one out. Having already thrown 125 pitches, manager John Tamargo decided he couldn't let Hammel go any further in his pursuit of a no-hitter. In came Juan Salas, who's wild pitch allowed the only Columbus run, but he then got the final two outs to complete the 4-1 victory and combined no-no. The no-hitter was the first at Durham Bulls Athletic Park since the club became a Triple-A team in 1998, and the first in the International League since Ian Snell of Indianapolis blanked Norfolk in 9 innings (5/15/05).

23-year-old Jason Hammel was named the Devil Rays 2005 Minor League Pitcher of the Year after combining to go 11-4 with a 3.24 ERA in 22 games between Double-A Montgomery and Durham. Hammel made his Major League debut in April 2006, going 0-1 in two starts with Tampa Bay.

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