PHILLIES NEWS

Well, it's official the Phils are on a roll right now, of course I could've said that earlier this week when they won both games of their doubleheader with the Braves, but then they lost the next game, proving that they weren't really on a roll. Hopefully that won't happen to the Phils tomorrow, but at any rate with the win tonight they have won two in a row and 4 out of their last 5, which to me sounds like being on a roll. Anyway, getting back to the game, you could almost argue that the game didn't even really start until the 7th inning, as starters Cole Hamels for the Phils, and Jason Hirsch for the Astros, dueled to a scoreless tie through 6 innings. However, the 6th inning would be Hirsch's last as he gave up 2 runs early in the 7th inning and failed to get through it. Hamels meanwhile hung in their until there were 2 outs in 8th inning, and it was this little bit of extra work by Hamels that would be the difference on the night. After Hirsch left the game, the Phils simply feasted on the Astros bullpen for 5 runs on 5 hits and by the time Hamels started the 8th inning he had 7-1 lead and was well on the way to his 8th victory of the season(of course he also has 8 losses, but lets just forget about those). All told Hamels went 7 and 2/3rds innings, allowing just 2 runs on 3 hits, and striking out of 11. If those stats aren't good enough for you, than consider this , for the 1st 6 and 2/3rds innings of the night, Hamels held the Astros hitless, yes that's right he had a no-hitter going 2 outs into the 7th inning, until Adam Everett doubled to break it up, just 7 outs short. Basically it was good day for the Phils, and hopefully there will be many more to come. Anyway, at the moment the Phils trail the Padres by 1 game for 1st place in the wildcard, but right now the Padres are preparing to face the Dodgers later tonight and if they lose the Phils will close to within .5 games of the wild card, so tune in tomorrow for an update on that. Well, happy trails everyone.