What happened?

Cole Hamels was dominant over eight innings to lead the Phillies to their fourth straight win and their 19th of the month.

Who did what?

Cole Hamels (W, 7-5) gave up one run over eight innings to earn the win. He allowed four hits and didn’t walk a batter, while striking out nine.

Jimmy Rollins went 1 for 5 with a run.

Shane Victorino went 3 for 5 with a double (27), two runs and two RBIs.

Brad Lidge (S, 20) gave up two runs on a hit and a walk in one inning pitched

Dan Haren (L, 10-6) gave up three runs (two earned) on four hits in five innings. He walked three (one intentional) and struck out five.

Ryan Roberts went 1 for 4 with a homer (2) and an RBI.

Mark Reynolds went 1 for 4 with a homer (28) and two RBIs.

What does this mean?

Facing the best pitcher in the National League, Cole Hamels turned in one of his best performances of the season en route to a 4-3 Phillies victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks. The victory marks their fourth in a row as they continue to roll through the month of July. They are a season high 18 games over the .500 mark with 58 wins, and a seven game lead over the second place Florida Marlins.

On the second batter of the game, Cole Hamels made his only mistake of the night, when Ryan Roberts deposited his offering into the right field stands. Cole would dominate the D’Backs the rest of the way, allowing only three more hits in eight innings. He ran into trouble briefly in the third and six innings, when Arizona put two runners on with no outs, but Hamels retired the next two batters in each frame to end the threat.

Shane Victorino started the scoring for The Fightins with a solo homer in the third, followed up by an RBI double in the fifth to give the Phillies the lead. They took advantage of Arizona’s poor defense to add another run in the inning, followed by an insurance run on a Jayson Werth groundout in the seventh.

With all the talk about Hamels’ struggles this season, it appears that he is finally getting into a groove that earned him the World Series MVP a year ago. Tonight’s win was his second straight start where he went at least seven innings, and his third straight start where he allowed only one run.

While Cole looks more and more like the pitcher from 2008, Brad Lidge looks like anything but his counterpart from last season. He walked the leadoff hitter on five pitches and served up a two-run homer with no outs in the bottom of the ninth to make it a one run game. He retired the next three batters in order, but Lidge is looking more and more like he did at the beginning of the season.

If the Phillies are going to have a shot at repeating, both Hamels and Lidge need to return to form. While Cole has looked great as of late, Lidge has become the weak link in the rotation. It could be an injury, a mechanical problem or something else, but Lidge has to get it all sorted out before too much longer.

Besides the ninth inning hiccup, it was a good win against one of the toughest pitchers in the league. It certainly wasn’t going to be a cake walk against the Diamondbacks, but these first two wins are huge, especially with the San Francisco Giants on the horizon.

What’s next for our heroes?

The Phillies go for the sweep in the series finale, with J.A. Happ (7-1, 2.97) takes on Yusmeiro Petit (0-5, 7.68)

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