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ATLANTA - During the saga of Brett Myers: Decision '08, the Phillies made an obvious but important adjustment to their rotation.
They had Cole Hamels pitch tonight against the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field, instead of tomorrow night against the New York Mets at Citizens Bank Park.
Hamels pitched Saturday in Texas, so with a day off Monday, the Phillies could have kept him on his normal turn, rested him an extra day, and pitched him tomorrow night against Mets lefthander Johan Santana. But because they pitched Hamels tonight on normal rest, he can pitch three times before the all-star break instead of twice.
"Any time I'm able to be relied upon a little more and get an extra start here and there, it's great," Hamels said after a 4-1 victory. "I can't complain. I know it's tough because I'm going to be maxing out a lot of innings this year. But it's been a goal of mine to go out there every fifth day [and] be accountable for what I have and what I can do - and for the team to believe in me."
Hamels threw eight shutout innings before he allowed a run with two outs in the ninth inning. In 82/3 innings, he allowed five hits, one run and two walks. He struck out seven and threw a career-high 125 pitches.
"One out away," Hamels said. "It's so hard to get those perfect games, those no-hitters, those complete-game shutouts, those complete games - you really have to stay with it. Being a couple of pitches away is definitely frustrating. But it's one of those things where we were able to come out with a victory and help my teammate Flash get a save."
Tom Gordon took over for Hamels, who had thrown 23 consecutive scoreless innings against the Braves until yielding the run on a Brian McCann double in the ninth. Gordon threw one pitch to Jeff Francoeur, got the final out, and picked up a save.
It allowed the Phillies to return home 5-4 on their nine-game, 10-day, three-time-zone trip through Oakland, Texas and Atlanta. The Phillies won their first series since they swept the Braves at Turner Field June 6-8.
It is the first time in franchise history that the Phillies have swept the Braves twice in a three-game series in the same season in Atlanta. The Phils also have a seven-game winning streak against the Braves, which is their longest since 1977, when they won eight straight against the Braves from June 17 to Aug. 31.
Chase Utley hit his major-league-leading 24th home run of the season in the first inning. Ryan Howard hit his 22d homer in the sixth, and Pedro Feliz hit a solo homer in the seventh.
But it was Hamels' night.
"Cole's pretty good, man," manager Charlie Manuel said. "He pitched a heck of a game. He pitched a super game."
Hamels is 4-1 with a 2.31 ERA in his last six starts, and improved to 9-5 with a 3.22 ERA for the season. He could add to that total soon. He will have two more starts to go before the break.
Hamels is thankful for that.
Read his blog at http://go.philly.com/phillieszone.
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