Phillies Notes: Hamels lowers ERA to 2.47 as Phils beat Padres

SAN DIEGO - This season commenced with great consternation about Cole Hamels, and it will end with the Phillies ace posting some of the best numbers of his career. He handcuffed his hometown team once more Wednesday night in a 5-2 win over the Padres, lowered his ERA to 2.47, and never looked stressed in seven innings.

Hamels has permitted three earned runs or fewer in 21 straight starts, the longest such streak for a Phillies pitcher in 46 years. His ERA ranks fourth in the National League. He is, by far, the most overwhelming positive in a charmless season.

The Phillies were eliminated from postseason contention once Pittsburgh won Wednesday night. They sealed their second straight losing season with Tuesday's loss.

Hamels, 30, will make two more starts including the season finale Sept. 28 at Citizens Bank Park. He began the season on the disabled list with biceps tendinitis and missed three turns, but his current ERA would represent a career best.

Petco Park, a few miles from where Hamels grew up, is a favorite venue. Hamels won for the fifth time in eight starts here. His ERA in those games is 1.78. He struck out nine Wednesday and threw 108 pitches in seven innings.

No pitcher in baseball has more losses or walks than A.J. Burnett. The 37-year-old pitcher, who will need hernia surgery after the season, hinted Tuesday that more health problems have compromised him.

He controls his future with a $12.75 million player option for 2015.

"If I can lift my arm up at the end of the season, then I might pitch," Burnett said. "We'll see how it goes."

Burnett has thrown 2022/3 innings this season, his highest total since 2009. Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg said Wednesday that Burnett has not appeared on the team's medical reports. The hernia, Sandberg said, is a "nonissue."

Burnett declined to describe his season until it is over. He signed with the Phillies because he believed they offered him a chance at a championship.

"I expected a lot of things to be different," Burnett said. "A lot."

Like what?

"I told you," Burnett said, "we'll discuss that when the time comes."

Joe West, the umpire who ejected crotch-grabbing closer Jonathan Papelbon on Sunday, was suspended by Major League Baseball for one game without pay. West grabbed Papelbon's jersey.

"Joe West handled himself appropriately in ejecting Papelbon after the player's lewd gesture to the fans," said Joe Torre, MLB's executive vice president for baseball operations. "I fully understand that Joe was reacting to a player who was acting aggressively, and can understand his frustration with the situation. However, Joe knows that an umpire cannot initiate physical contact with a player just as a player cannot initiate physical contact with an umpire."

The Phillies, starting Wednesday, were to face five straight lefthanded starters. That could provide at-bats for Maikel Franco and Darin Ruf, both of whom started Wednesday. . . . Jimmy Rollins (strained left hamstring) took grounders and hit during batting practice. He could return this weekend.