Hamels, Phils shut out Padres

SAN DIEGO - Cole Hamels threw ball three to Orlando Hudson. It was his 121st pitch of the night. With a tenuous two-run lead over San Diego in the eighth inning, Charlie Manuel meandered from his usual perch in the dugout to the second step, ready to pounce.

"If he walks Hudson, I don't know," Manuel said. "I was thinking about it."

The manager never moved until it came time to shake Hamels' hand. The lefthander walked into the dugout, eight shutout innings in his back pocket and perhaps the best pitching performance yet in a rotation filled with aces.

Hamels threw 126 pitches in the Phillies' 2-0 victory over the Padres on Friday night. It was one shy of his career high on a night Manuel needed his starter to go deep with a bullpen very much in shambles.

Hamels did just that. After a stunningly poor 2011 debut, he has a 2.92 ERA. Twenty-three of the 25 innings Hamels has pitched this season have been scoreless. He allowed four hits and struck out eight Friday. One Padres runner reached third.

"It was fantastic," Manuel said.

Hamels gave way to Ryan Madson, filling in for Jose Contreras, who required a day of rest. In his first save opportunity after being passed over for closer at the end of spring training, Madson was sharp. He pitched a 1-2-3 ninth.

Conveniently, this all happened against maybe the worst offense in the majors. At least the Phillies know their slumping offense is not nearly as dreadful as the Padres'.

The difference was that the Phillies could notch a two-out hit with runners on base - Ryan Howard's third-inning triple - and that was all.

So it goes. This is the state of the 2011 Phillies: They can pitch and play defense and hit just enough. There has been no shellacking of an inferior opponent, but anyone in the visitors' clubhouse will say a win's a win, and the Phillies now have three of them in a row.

The last two have been shutouts at the hands of the Padres, who will take a 21-inning scoreless streak into Saturday's game.

San Diego entered Friday's play with the worst batting average in all of baseball, .217. The Padres' .326 slugging percentage was the worst in the National League and better than only Minnesota's .322. They are averaging 3.16 runs per game and have scored none against the Phillies.

It made the Phils' .269 team batting average and .721 OPS (still both better than the major-league average) look incredible.

On Saturday, with Joe Blanton toeing the rubber, they will go for a third consecutive zero. The last time the Phillies pitched three shutouts in a row? That would be 1969, when a team that finished 63-99 managed to blank its opponents for four consecutive days.

It wasn't until Hamels allowed a leadoff single in the eighth on pitch No. 112 that the Phillies activated the bullpen. David Herndon warmed up and, faced with using his uncertain right arm, Manuel stuck with Hamels.

"Anytime I go start an inning," Hamels said, "I want to finish it."

Hamels started the sixth at 90 pitches and still was able to finish eight innings. San Diego barely attempted to extend his pitch count. In the sixth, he threw 10 pitches. In the seventh, he threw nine.

The eighth required 17 pitches. Chase Headley led off with a single. Jason Bartlett struck out swinging. Hudson ran the count to 3-1, and that caused some nervous movement by Manuel in the dugout.

Hamels threw Hudson back-to-back change-ups, and he fouled both off. Then the lefthander fired a 91-m.p.h. fastball that Hudson watched dot the outside corner for strike three.

Two pitches later, Jorge Cantu grounded out to second, and the Phillies avoided the murky depth that is their current middle relief.

"I forgot," Hamels said of the bullpen situation. "Looking in the seventh and eighth inning and no one is warming up, I guess that kind of made me more aware."

Hamels delivered. And on the steps of the dugout, Manuel could relax.