Cole vs. Johan Recap

It was what we thought it would be, just with a different result. Two of the best in the NL East went at it last night and one mistake by Cole Hamels spelled his eighth loss of the season, a tough-luck loss for the Phillies as they couldn't drum up any offense with Johan Santana looking the best he's been in his last three starts.

Last night's game invoked memories of the three-game disaster up in New York when the Phillies were sweep and shutout in three consecutive games.

I'm not going to say that last night means the Phillies are cold again, but every so often you come up against a guy who has your number and Johan had it working last night and he also made a fantastic play in the bottom of the eighth when the Phillies got two singles from Jimmy Rollins and Raul Ibanez to lead off the inning.

Placido Polanco attempted to bunt Jimmy over to third but Santana did a masterful job of fielding his position and firing to third base and catching Jimmy in the nick of time and ruining what could have been a another eighth inning rally for the Phillies.

It's been an eventful weekend for the Phillies as they have been able to claw back into second place in the division and within a game of the Braves who won last night and dropped the Phils to two back as of this morning.

The loss last night also snapped the Phillies' five-game winning streak and 12 game home winning streak, their longest winning streak at home in 19 years.

This season has not been kind to Cole Hamels, record-wise. On the season Hamels now has a record of 7-8 on the year and has not won a game in almost a month. The numbers don't indicate the type of performance Hamels has had this year as it has been a return to 2008 form for the former World Series MVP.

Hamels has an ERA of 3.45 this season and has been on fire the last two months. In July, he had an ERA of 2.16 to along with a shocking record of only 1-1. And so far in August, he has one loss to go with an ERA of 3.21. Cole has gone at least seven innings in seven of his last eight starts and has 21 strikeouts in his last two games. And again, he only has a record of 7-8.

Today, Roy Halladay will take to the mound and he's been tough to beat at the Bank. In Halladay's last five starts at home, he's 4-0 with an ERA under one. In his last seven starts at home, he has gone at least seven innings in each start and has only given up more than two earned runs once in those starts.

You can say Halladay has adapted well to pitching in such a hitter's ballpark and has an ERA of 1.77 at home this season and he will look to win the series against the hated Mets today and help the Phillies pull closer in either the wild-card or the division.