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Hamels Breezes Through Reds To Finish 8-2 Homestand

You can call Cole Hamels UPS, because the man delivers.

Corny, sure, but Hamels bounced back 180 degrees from his last two starts, throwing his second career complete game shutout, a 5-0 silencing of the Reds to finish off the series (3-1) and the homestand (8-2) on fantastic notes.

Hamels gave up just three hits and struck out four, mostly getting Reds’ hitters to fly out easily to the outfield with the wind playing in today. The bad conditions clearly worked to Hamels’ advantage.

Meanwhile the Reds defense plagued pitcher Homer Bailey. Errors abound for the Reds, with both allowing runs to score. In one missed fly to shortstop Paul Janish, Jimmy Rollins stopped running while Carlos Ruiz booked it to score. Rollins was then taken out of the game (more on this later).

The Phils made sure to score without the Reds help, as Shane Victorino and Ryan Howard added RBI singles, and Geoff Jenkins homered for the 5-0 lead. Hamels finished off what he started, throwing 103 pitches for his sixth win of the season. It seemed too easy today, and the Phils can travel to Atlanta with a great win and homestand under their belts.

Associated Press photo

Tim Malcolm

Tim first found the Phillies as a little infant at Veteran’s Stadium, cheering on a Juan Samuel game-winning home run in his very first game. With the pinstripes in his blood, he witnessed Terry Mulholland’s 1990 no-hitter, “Steve Carlton Night” at the Vet, game three of the 1993 World Series, countless games during the charmed 2008 championship season and various road excursions. Since November 2007 Tim’s been writing about them daily at Phillies Nation, becoming one of the world’s most popular Phillies scribes. You can catch him on Twitter and Facebook, as well. When he’s not talking about the Phils he’s relaxing with a St. Bernardus ABT 12 or one of his many favored brews.