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Rangers welcome their new ace - Cole Hamels

ARLINGTON, Texas - Cole Hamels' final magical moment in a Phillies uniform last week was closely watched more than 2,000 miles away in Anaheim, Calif. As the players, coaches and manager of the Texas Rangers awaited the start of their Saturday night game against the Los Angeles Angels, they got caught up in what was going down at Chicago's Wrigley Field.

ARLINGTON, Texas - Cole Hamels' final magical moment in a Phillies uniform last week was closely watched more than 2,000 miles away in Anaheim, Calif. As the players, coaches and manager of the Texas Rangers awaited the start of their Saturday night game against the Los Angeles Angels, they got caught up in what was going down at Chicago's Wrigley Field.

Many of the Rangers knew that the trade talks between their general manager Jon Daniels and Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. had heated up again. They knew their team was a potential landing spot for the former World Series MVP and now they were watching Hamels at his best, sitting down one Cubs hitter after another with his overpowering fastball, a nasty curveball, and his trademark change-up.

"We watched the no-hitter," Rangers pitching coach and former Phillies pitcher Mike Maddux said Friday night after the eight-player deal that sent Hamels to Texas became official. "We were rooting for him."

Some of the Rangers, in fact, were rooting for Hamels with an unusual fervor. As described by the Dallas Morning News, pitcher Martin Perez ran out of the weight room and infielders Elvis Andrus and Rougned Odor leaped off a couch in the middle of the clubhouse to celebrate when former Rangers minor-leaguer Odubel Herrera went to his knees before catching the game's final out on the warning track in center field.

"I think they were enjoying the ball game," Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. "I think any time that there is a no-hitter every one of our guys is locked in. But I think given all the rumors and everything that was going around, I think he had a few more fans in the clubhouse that day. I believe these guys were well aware of everything that was being said. It was a unique reaction. Normally there is enjoyment and some reaction, but this time there were a few cheers in the clubhouse."

That's what happens when you think you have a chance to land one of the best pitchers in baseball.

"There was that hope and that hope becomes reality [Saturday]," Maddux said.

It does indeed. For the first time in his 13 professional seasons, Hamels will pitch for an organization other than the Phillies when he takes on the defending World Series champion San Francisco Giants at Globe Life Park. He will also become the first pitcher to throw a no-hitter and make his next start with a different team. The Rangers and their fans are understandably excited.

"He has the work ethic, the focus, the commitment, all the things you want to see and I want some of our young pitchers to see that," Daniels said. "It's somewhat similar to when Cliff [Lee] was here. Cliff obviously was here for a few months and this will be a longer-term relationship."

The Rangers' pursuit of Hamels actually dates to the trade deadline of 2012.

"That resulted in Cole signing a six-year contract extension [with the Phillies]," Daniels said. "We figured that would be that. But then we had conversations about Cole in the winter. It was one of those things that just kept going."

Daniels believes the Phillies landed a nice haul of prospects for Hamels and reliever Jake Diekman.

"These guys are going to play in the big leagues for Philadelphia," Daniels said. "They are. They're good, they're talented and they are good makeup guys. But this was a chance for us to add a piece we felt we needed for [2015], 16 and beyond."

Hamels, after saying his goodbyes to Philadelphia in an afternoon news conference at Citizens Bank Park, made his first appearance in the Texas dugout during the bottom of the fourth inning. One minute he was shaking hands with some of his new teammates and the next he was charging the field with them after San Francisco ace Madison Bumgarner shouted something at Delino DeShields when he flipped his bat after popping out. Only insults were exchanged.

"That was some serious excitement," Hamels said. "That's the type of excitement I love."

The Rangers officially introduced Hamels in the top of the eighth inning when they showed him smiling in the home dugout on the giant ballpark video screen. By that point, Diekman had made his Rangers debut by escaping a two-on, one-out jam in the seventh. Diekman went on to pitch a perfect eighth, and then he chatted with Hamels as Texas closed out a 6-3 win in the ninth.

"I was just happy for him because I know how much emotion he's gone through the last few days," Hamels said.

The first thing Hamels probably noticed upon arrival is the oppressive heat. It was 95 degrees at first pitch Friday night, down from 101 the night before. That heat was one of the things that detracted from Lee's brief experience with the Rangers in 2010 and it will be a challenge for Hamels, who declined the opportunity to play for Texas' other big-league team even though the Houston Astros have a climate-controlled retractable roof and are in first place in the American League West.

The Rangers, on the other hand, were not one of the team's on Hamels' no-trade list because he has family and friends down here.

"I've got quite a few friends that live there from San Diego," Hamels said. "A good old roommate from the minor leagues is there. A brother and sister-in-law . . . so it makes it easier."

They are all going to watch him pitch for the Texas Rangers Saturday night and that is going to be one strange sight.

@brookob