Cole Hamels

Describes motivation process for creativity with emphasis on intrinsic motivation by Corey K Katir

Cole Hamels pitched seven strong innings, and Hunter Pence and Freddy Galvis homered to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to their sixth straight victory with a 6-4 win over the Boston Red Sox on Friday night.

While the Phillies have been looking for answers as they’ve struggled through the first five weeks of the season, Cole Hamels has been one of their most consistent pieces as they look to climb out of the cellar in the NL East.

Cole Hamels tried to teach Bryce Harper a lesson by hitting him in the back, but he only managed to look small doing so.

1. In todayas Post, I wrote this column about how the Matt Cain extension impacts the Yankees. Hint: More and more teams are signing their best young starters long term, which means fewer elite starters are reaching free agency in their prime, which means you better be developing good starting pitching. This is especially true now for the Yankees, who have gone frugal at a time when more and more teams have shown a willingness to spend big.

That trend is likely to continue since the Yankees are trying to drop under the $189 million luxury-tax threshold in 2014 to gain financial benefits that are part of the new collective bargaining agreement. Meanwhile, fueled by local TV money, in particular, more teams are becoming part of the big-spending brotherhood.

For example, it is no longer outlandish that more than $330 million could be guaranteed in a day a as it was yesterday a and the Yankees have nothing to do with it. Cincinnati gave a 10-year, $225 million extension to Joey Votto and the Giantsa extension for Cain covered five years at $112.5 million.

When Mark Teixeira signed his eight-year, $180 million contract with the Yankees after the 2008 season, he was the highest-paid first baseman in history by both total dollars and average annual value ($22.5 million). Now he has the fifth-highest annual value behind Ryan Howard, Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder and Votto. Those last three a Pujols, Fielder and Votto a have joined Alex Rodriguez in the $200 million club. International stars Yoenis Cespedes and Yu Darvish signed with hardly a peep from the Yankees.

There was a time when the Yankees had signed four of the five largest contracts ever given (A-Rod, Derek Jeter, Teixeira and Sabathia) and traded for the fifth, the original 10-year deal signed by A-Rod with Texas. Now the deals for Pujols, Votto, Fielder and Joe Mauer are mixed into the top nine.

The Yankees, of course, remain a financial heavyweight. But they no longer are in a class by themselves when it comes to spending.

2. Next yearas free-agent starting pitching class is not particularly good with Cole Hamels and Zack Greinke standing out. A very unscientific survey of executives thought it was much more likely Greinke would stay put in Milwaukee than Hamels would stay in Philadelphia.

What will be interesting is how intact subsequent free-agent starting classes will remain. Right now, Chris Carpenter, Dan Haren, Josh Johnson, Tim Lincecum and Adam Wainwright can all be free agents after the 2013 campaign.

But the one to really keep your eyes on is the class that would have their walk year in 2014, which would be highlighted by arguably the three best starters in the game in Felix Hernandez, Clayton Kershaw and Justin Verlander with a pretty good secondary group of Josh Beckett, Justin Masterson and James Shields. Now, with new, rich ownership, the Dodgers will probably make a big pitch to keep Kershaw long term and Detroit owner Mike Ilitch has shown he is willing to spend to go for championships. Thus, he probably would do what is necessary to retain Verlander, though the righty had shown an affinity for bright lights and might want to try life outside of Detroit.

Here is where this is interesting for the New York teams. For the Mets, will they have the financial house in order enough to make a play for a dynamic ace? Their current two big-ticket items, Johan Santana and Jason Bay, will have had their contracts expire by then and the Mets will have had to make a long-term decision on David Wright.

As for the Yankees, at minimum, they want to get under the $189 million luxury-tax threshold in 2014. There are other benefits if they do it longer. But if they do it in just 2014, it would mean rather than pay a 50 percent tax on every dollar spent above the $189 million, their rate would fall to 17.5 percent in 2015 if they went over the threshold. In other words, they could go after one of those big starters (if they are truly free) and go over the threshold and not be punished nearly as severely.

3. As part of todayas column, I wrote that the season within the season was to watch how Phil Hughes, Ivan Nova and Michael Pineda did in the majors, and close-to-the-majors prospects such as Manny Banuelos, Dellin Betances, David Phelps, Adam Warren, Graham Stoneburner and Brett Marshall did in the minors. Because the Yankees need several of those cost-effective youngsters to come through as a way to keep from having to delve into spending big on starting pitching.

There will be one other season within the season having to do with the Yankee older starters: Freddy Garcia, Hiroki Kuroda and Andy Pettitte.

If any or all of them pitches well this year, the Yankees wouldnat mind bringing back one or more on a one-year contract. Because one year mitigates risk. It also keeps the Yankees from spending any long-term money as they keep the 2014 luxury-tax threshold in mind.

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Cliff Lee beat the Yankees again Monday. The Yankees just arenat good enough.

That was the word from Lee, who is 3-0 against the Yankees in the last two postseasons. The no-nonsense lefty painted a clear picture why he chose the Phillies over the Yankees when the Phillies officially introduced their new Four Aces rotation at their spring training complex, featuring Lee, Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels.

Asked by the Post why he was sitting here and not at the big tent in Tampa, where the Yankees hold all their spring training press conferences, Lee said, aI felt like this was the best chance to win World Championships, thatas what it is all about.aa

Yes, he likes the City of Brotherly Love, he likes the buzz generated by Citizens Bank Park, his family feels comfortable in Philadelphia, but the bottom line is this: In his mind, the Yankees, who were offering more money, were not in the same World Championship ballpark as the Phillies.

Itas really that simple.

The Yankees have the history, those 27 World Championships, but as far as Lee is concerned, the Phillies are in a better position to deliver titles over the next five years, the length of Leeas $120 million contract.

The worm has turned in a big way.

aObviously, I played here in the past and enjoyed myself here and thought we had a really good team at that time,aa Lee said of his decision and not go to The Bronx or stay in Texas with the Rangers. aSince then theyave made a couple of additions that I think have made the team that much better. I felt like if I ever got an opportunity to come back and be part of whatas going on here, I would take advantage of it, and thatas why.aa

There you have it.

Later in the press conference, Lee reinforced his point saying, aI just honestly stepped back and looked at each team and evaluated. I felt like this is the team thatas going to give me the best chance to win a ring, and hopefully multiple rings. But thatas what the decision was based on.aa

The Yankees are second city to the Phillies now in Leeas mind.

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