Game 151 - Monday Night, September 20th in Philadelphia
And with this win, the Magic Number dropped to 8 and the Phils have a four game lead in the NL East. Cole Hamels dominated the Braves through eight innings, allowing six hits while striking out six. He allowed the lone Braves' run in the 2nd on the way to his 12th win of the year. He was helped out along the way by three inning-ending double plays.
The Phils scored their three runs with the benefit of only five hits. With the Braves up 1-0 in the bottom of the 2nd, Ryan Howard doubled to open the inning and he eventually came around to score when Carlos Ruiz doubled. The Phils broke the tie in the 5th. Shane Victorino reached on a 3-base error by right fielder Jason Heyward. (Tough scoring on this play - Heyward was at a full run and the ball glanced off his glove. This home field scorer probably would have given Victorino a triple.) A single by Chase Utley and back-to-back walks to Howard and Jayson Werth loaded the bases. Raul Ibañez brought Utley home on a ground ball to short, and that was all Hamels needed.
Brad Lidge came in to close out the game, and his stuff was absolutely filthy. (He types with a huge smile on his face.) With just 11 pitches, Lidge shut down the Braves for his 24th save of the year.
Am I allowed to start getting excited yet? Charlie Manuel says not yet. "I'll feel good when we've got a four-game lead with three to play. That's when you've got something. There's no sense in celebrating until we get there."
Cool Stuff: Ripped right from Todd Zolecki's Twitter feed - Hamels is 5-0 with a 0.49 ERA in his last five starts. Lidge has 14 saves in his last 15 chances with a 0.91 ERA over that span. Who would have predicted Ruiz would be the team's leading hitter at this point, with a .299 average?
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