Cole Hamels may have come into the year as the fourth starter on paper, but so far this season he's made a strong argument that he may very well be the top arm on the staff. Hamels threw eight innings of shutout ball with no walks as the Phillies took the rubber game of their series with the LA Dodgers. Hamels improved to 6-0 all time (playoffs and regular season) against LA. It was the Phillies MLB leading 8th shutout of the season and tied Hamels for the MLB in wins with 8.
Ryan Howard broke the Phillies season high six game home run-less streak with a blast in the sixth inning. Prior to that, Howard had been 0-13 lifetime against Dodgers’ starter Hiroki Kuroda. The only other run the Phils managed came in the seventh when Shane Victorino tripled and was knocked in by Domonic Brown.
Tonight always looked like it was going to be a low scoring affair with Hamels and Kuroda on the mound, both of whom had dominated the opposing team in their careers. However, the Phillies once again fielded a depleted lineup as Jimmy Rollins missed another game and Chase Utley was given the night off after having payed five straight games. Amazingly, Cole Hamels came into this game with a higher batting averaging than everyone on the Phillies lineup save Placido Polanco.
The Phillies will start a four game series against the Cubs tomorrow night with Kyle Kendrick slated to get the start.