Cole Hamels has had moments like this before.

He carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning in his Phillies debut May 12, 2006, in Cincinnati. He carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning in Houston on Sept. 16, 2006. He struck out 15 in his first complete game in Cincinnati on April 21, 2007, and struck out 13 while throwing eight shutout innings against Washington on Sept. 28, 2007, which put the Phillies in sole possession of first place in the National League East with two games to play.

But tonight Hamels (5-3) picked up his first shutout in a 5-0 victory over the Atlanta Braves.

"I definitely think it's the best I've pitched so far this year," he said. "That's pretty much all I can remember."

Hamels threw 22 first-pitch strikes. He threw ball three just three times. He got five first-pitch outs. He allowed a single to Omar Infante with one out in the first inning but retired the next 15 batters he faced until Gregor Blanco singled with one out in the sixth. Hamels didn't walk a batter until he walked two in the eighth.

It's the first Phillies shutout since J.D. Durbin shutout the San Diego Padres on July 22 at Petco Park. It's also the first Phillies shutout at Citizens Bank Park since Jon Lieber shutout the New York Mets on Aug. 16, 2006.

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Despite Hamels' effort, starting pitching remains this team's biggest concern. So the Phillies need to see something good from Kris Benson in the next couple weeks to believe he has a chance to help him this season. And they need to see it soon.

"We're always looking elsewhere for help," Phillies assistant general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said. "He can't be our only option. He's not. But now that he's over his groin and he doesn't have any bicep symptoms anymore, we need to see him progress to think he might be able to help us."

Ryan Howard crushed a solo homer to center field in the third inning tonight against the Braves to hand the Phillies a 2-0 lead.

Howard has a seven-game hitting streak in which he is hitting .286 (8 for 28) with a double, triple, three home runs and six RBIs. His first two homers in that streak went to left field, which is something he often did when he won the NL MVP in 2006. Howard hit 58 homers that season, with 28 of them going to the opposite field to lead the majors.

It's too early to say he's out of his slump.

But it's certainly a step in the right direction.

This is from Adam Rubin, the Mets beat writer for the New York Daily News.

Former Phillies closer Billy Wagner is ticked that some of his New York Mets teammates keep ducking the media after losses: "Someone tell me why the (expletive) you're talking to the closer? I didn't even play. They're over there, not being interviewed ... I got it. They're gone. (Expletive) shocker."

Love it.

Phillies righthander Scott Mathieson had right UCL reconstruction surgery (Tommy John), performed by orthopedist James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala.

Recovery is expected to take up to one year.

This is Mathieson's second Tommy John surgery since Sept. 2006. The recovery rate for a second-time Tommy John surgery recepient is about 30 percent.

Does anybody have any answers?

Brett Myers isn't sure what's wrong. He likes his stuff. He likes the pitches he's throwing. He thinks his location is OK. He said he's healthy. He said his conditioning is fine. He said he has confidence on the mound. But he's getting hit, and hit hard. That's a big problem as the Phillies begin the second quarter of their 162-game season.

Myers lasted just 4 1/3 innings last night in an 8-6 loss to the Braves.

"It's frustrating," Myers said. "I'm disappointed in myself. I'm disappointed in letting my teammates down. I'm disappointed the fans have to watch that. You work so hard to try to win. You push yourself. You're busting your rear end out there and you have nothing to show for it. It's frustrating. I'm going to work my way through this. This isn't going to happen all season because I'm not going to let it happen."

In his previous start in Arizona, Myers said he wasn't sure what went wrong. Chris Coste thought Myers had good stuff that afternoon at Chase Field, and hoped he wouldn't try to reinvent the wheel against Atlanta. Myers didn't try to reinvent the wheel, but he certainly didn't improve. That's a big problem moving forward. The Phillies pretty much know what they have in Kyle Kendrick, Jamie Moyer and Adam Eaton. They know Cole Hamels is their ace. But they need Myers to reassert himself as part of the 1-2 punch atop their rotation. They can survive inconsistencies from Kendrick (3-2, 4.87 ERA), Moyer (2-3, 5.02 ERA) and Eaton (0-1, 5.40 ERA) if their offense gets on track and their bullpen continues to pitch well. But they can't add a fourth pitcher to that mix.

"I don't know exactly what we can do," Charlie Manuel said. "We can keep working with him and sending him out there and see where it goes."

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Guess who loves Chase Utley?

President Bush.

Bush said in an interview at politico.com that he would take Utley first if he had to choose a position player to start a team. Utley shares his reaction in the Phillies Notebook.

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There still are no answers in John Marzano's death.

Brett Myers has a 5.91 ERA after nine starts this season.

How much should the Phillies be worried?

Consider:

• He is tied for the fourth-worst ERA in the National League.
• He has the highest ERA on the team after Clay Condrey threw a scoreless inning tonight.
• In 4 2/3 innings tonight against the Braves, Myers allowed nine hits, eight runs (six earned runs) and three walks. He struck out six.
• He served up three home runs to add to his major-league leading total of 15 homers allowed.
• He has pitched more than five innings just four times.
• He has just three quality starts.
• In his last five starts, he is 0-3 with a 7.62 ERA (18 earned runs in 24 innings).

Charlie Manuel has a phrase that he breaks out after certain games, and last night could have been one of those games:

"(Insert pitcher's name here) pitched a (insert pitcher's name here) game tonight."

He could have said that last night about Kyle Kendrick, who allowed three runs in six innings in a 5-4 victory over the Braves. Kendrick definitely pitched a Kendrick game. The Braves hit balls hard off him, he got into some trouble, he worked out of some trouble, he had just one clean inning and at the end of the night he left with a quality start. But that's pretty much what they want from Kendrick.

Keep it close.

Give the offense a chance.

"Sooner or later, we can put a big inning on you," Manuel said. "And I don't think we've seen the best of our offense yet. I think our offense is much better than what it has shown so far. We haven't really hit with togetherness in our lineup, but we're going to."

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Ryan Howard went 2 for 4 with a double off the base of the wall in center field and a hard single through the defensive shift in right.

Now let's not get ahead of ourselves, but Howard has a very modest five-game hitting streak going. More important, he really has hit some balls hard in that stretch. He ripped a single off the wall at AT&T Park on Friday, he homered to left on Saturday, he tripled on Sunday and he hit two balls hard last night.

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The streak is over. Brad Lidge allowed his first earned run of the season last night, although it never should have been. Jayson Werth misplayed a fly ball to center field with a runner on second and two outs in the ninth to allow a run to score.

"I read in right off the bat," Werth said. "I was already taking steps in when I realized it clearly wasn't in. Definite miscue in a bad situation there."

But Lidge, Tom Gordon and J.C. Romero have been more than just impressive. Throw out Gordon's performance on opening day and the Big Three have a combined 1.05 ERA (six earned runs in 51 1/3 innings) this season.

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In the Phillies Notebook, Manuel moves Werth to center and Shane Victorino to right for a night, the Phillies' trouble hitting lefthanders and more.

In a move that Charlie Manuel said isn't permanent, Shane Victorino has moved from center field to right field for tonight's game against the Braves at Citizens Bank Park.

Jayson Werth will play center.

"I want Werth to play center field every now and then," Manuel said. "I said that before that Werth will play some in center field. I said it in the winter. I said it in the spring. I said it right before Victorino came back."

Tonight's lineup: 1) Jimmy Rollins SS 2) Victorino RF 3) Chase Utley 2B 4) Ryan Howard 1B 5) Pat Burrell LF 6) Werth CF 7) Pedro Feliz 3B 8) Carlos Ruiz C 9) Kyle Kendrick P.

Half-full?

Half-empty?

Bob Ford wonders who the Phillies are as they play the 40th game of their season tonight against the Braves at Citizens Bank Park:

"Will the starting pitchers come up to the level of the bullpen or will the relievers sink down to meet them? Will Ryan Howard snap out of his slide as Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino begin to really arrive or will Chase Utley and Pat Burrell not be able to maintain their production? Is Pedro Feliz the player who was hitting .214 when he left town or the one who had raised his average to .240 by the time he returned? Brad Lidge, fact or fiction?

"All good questions, and all answerable only on faith right now. That is what the first 40 games does - poses the problems and presents the equations. Now they begin to be solved."

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This team's biggest question mark (other than Howard) is its starting pitching.

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Pitching match ups for the Braves vs. Phillies.

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Brad Lidge? Yeah, he's been a pretty nice pick up for the Phillies.

Michael Bourn? He can run, but he hasn't shown he can hit. Some think it's time to pull the plug on Bourn already.

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A Citizen's Blog talks about the Phillies and speed.