Last night down at the ballpark had the feel of a playoff game as the Giants came into town for the first of a 3 game series. If the playoffs would start today we would potentially play San Francisco in the Divisional Series. The Giants have great starting pitching with Tim Linecum and Matt Cain, and even last night lefty Jonathan Sanchez pitched a quietly good game. But it was nothing compared to what ace Cole Hamels threw. Cole pitched a complete game shut out only allowing 2 hits while striking out 9 and only walking 1. The weather was a little cooler in South Philly for September 1st and maybe that helped King Cole return to the form he had in last years playoffs where he was so dominate. The Phils offense was a little quiet but in the 4th inning Ryan Howard drove in the lone run of the game to take the lead at 1-0. That was all that Hamels needed as he blanked the Giants offense all night. Hamels retired 24 in a row after the first hit he gave up to Ryan Garko and now has a streak of 19 scoreless innings tied for his career best. Hamels also showed off his speed on the bases as he took off and stole 2nd in the 5th inning, the first pitcher to steal a base for the Phillies since Curt Schilling in 1997. The Phillies have now won 15 of 20 and still hold a 7.5 game lead in the NL East over the Braves who beat the Marlins last night and they are now 9.5 games out. Tonight at CBP J.A. Happ(10-3) faces newly acquired starter Brad Penny(7-8) for the Giants. Game 2 tonight....
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