Every team needs someone to right the ship after a tough loss. Every team needs somebody to be the rock in its rotation. Cole Hamels proved once again he is the Phillies' undisputed ace when he threw his first career shutout tonight in a 5-0 victory over the Atlanta Braves at Citizens Bank Park.

The game took 2 hours, 13 minutes.

The Phillies took two of three from the Braves and moved within a game of the Florida Marlins for first place in the National League East.

Hamels pitched beautifully.

The lefthander allowed a career-low four hits. He walked two, both of them coming in the eighth inning. He struck out six.

He also got two hits of his own.

After he allowed a one-out single to right field to Omar Infante in the first inning, Hamels retired the next 15 batters until Gregor Blanco singled to center field with one out in the sixth inning.

Hamels improved to 5-3 with a 2.89 ERA.

It was sorely needed. The Phillies' rotation is the team's weak spot at the moment, with three starters having a 5.02 ERA or higher and Kyle Kendrick holding a 4.87 ERA. The Phillies' offense is not an issue; eventually they are going to score a ton of runs. The bullpen has a 2.63 ERA, the best of any relief corps in baseball.

Ryan Howard crushed a solo home run to center field in the third inning 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. Those other two home runs during his hitting streak went to left field, which is something he often did when the won the National League MVP in 2006.

Howard hit 28 of his franchise-record 58 home runs to the opposite field in 2006. If it's possible to draw conclusions from seven games, it would seem that Howard is slowly but surely working himself out of his slump. He has raised his average from .161 to .185 in that span.

It's a step in the right direction.

But tonight belonged to Hamels, looking like the Cy Young candidate he believes he can be.

Read his blog at http://go.philly.com/phillieszone.