Cole Hamels

at Philadelphia 9, San Diego 4: Cole Hamels pitched seven effective innings and Jayson Werth and Pedro Feliz had three hits apiece. St. Louis 4, at Washington 1 (six innings): Rick Ankiel broke a five-week homer drought and the Cardinals ended a three-game losing skid with a rain-shortened victory. at Arizona 11, Pittsburgh 4: Miguel Montero doubled in the go-ahead run in a five-run seventh and Chad Tracy capped the inning with a three-run home run.

Bryce Harper, the rookie phenom on the once lowly Washington Nationals, will dig into the batter's box and look to exact some more revenge against the Phillies’ lefthander Cole Hamels on Wednesday night at Citizens Bank Park. The last meeting of the two ended with Hamels being suspended and Harper rubbing a sore back as the Phillies pitcher “welcomed” the rookie into the league with a 93-mph purpose pitch to the kidneys ( see video above).

at Philadelphia 10, Atlanta 6: Cole Hamels pitched six strong innings for his first win since the World Series. at Milwaukee 3, Chicago 2: Ryan Braun hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth for the Brewers. Cubs third baseman Aramis Ramirez suffered a dislocated left shoulder. at Houston 2, San Diego 0: Wandy Rodriguez threw eight sharp innings for the Astros. at Cincinnati 6, St. Louis 4: Johnny Cueto extended his scoreless-inning streak to 15 before giving up his only run.

Cole Hamels earned a five-game suspension for the way he welcomed Bryce Harper to the big leagues. The 2008 World Series most valuable player was suspended for intentionally throwing at the Washington rookie in the Philadelphia Phillies' 9-3 win over the Nationals on Sunday night. Major League Baseball announced the penalty Monday. Hamels also was fined. "I was trying to hit him," Hamels, a two-time All-Star left-hander, said Sunday night. "I'm not going to deny it. I'm not trying to injure the guy. They're probably not going to like me for it, but I'm not going to say I wasn't trying to do it. I think they understood the message, and they threw it right back.

Cole Hamels earned a five-game suspension for the way he welcomed Bryce Harper to the big leagues. The 2008 World Series most valuable player was suspended for intentionally throwing at the Washington rookie in the Philadelphia Phillies' 9-3 win over the Nationals on Sunday night. Major League Baseball announced the penalty Monday. Hamels also was fined. "I was trying to hit him," Hamels, a two-time All-Star left-hander, said Sunday night. "I'm not going to deny it. I'm not trying to injure the guy. They're probably not going to like me for it, but I'm not going to say I wasn't trying to do it. I think they understood the message, and they threw it right back.

Cole Hamels took a perfect game into the sixth inning, masterfully using his changeup while matching a season high with 10 strikeouts and leading the Phillies to a 4-2 win over the Nationals on Thursday. Hamels (10-9) gave up one run and five hits in eight innings. He even chipped in with an opposite-field RBI single to help the NL East-leading Phillies win their fifth straight game. Brad Lidge got his 30th save in 40 chances. -- associated press

What happened to Cole Hamels? From the Dodgers' vantage point, absolutely nothing. The Dodgers couldn't hit him last October, they couldn't hit him last month in Philadelphia and they certainly couldn't hit him Thursday night at Dodger Stadium, as they fell to the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-0, in the opening game of a four-game series.

For the third time in three seasons, the Philadelphia Phillies will be playing for a National League pennant. They made sure of that Sunday, riding a complete-game shutout from left-hander Cole Hamels to a 2-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds to complete an impressive three-game sweep of the NL division series. The Phillies, winners of the last two league championships, will go for a third straight beginning Saturday in Philadelphia, where they will face the winner of the San Francisco-Atlanta division series.

Bow-WOW! I thought we were past this, but now we've got the Choking Dogs showing us a new trick, rolling over and playing dead. The Phillies have the momentum, the home-field advantage for the clincher, last year's World Series MVP Cole Hamels on the mound, and Cliff Lee ready to go next if needed. OK, so things are looking a bit bleak. "They'll show up," Manager Joe Torre countered, and if he's talking about George Sherrill and Jonathan Broxton , forget it, the Dodgers are goners.

at Philadelphia 4, New York 2: Cole Hamels pitched 6 2/3 effective innings and the Phillies' new-look bullpen got the last seven outs. Ryan Madson, replacing Brad Lidge as closer, recorded his seventh save in 12 chances. Atlanta 1, at St. Louis 0: Jair Jurrjens worked eight scoreless innings, and the Braves ended Joel Pineiro's eight-game winning streak dating to July 3. at Houston 9, Pittsburgh 1: Carlos Lee and Lance Berkman homered, and the Astros won for the 11th time in their last 15 home games.

No hits,no regrets Philadelphia's Cole Hamels and the Angels' Jered Weaver were born a year apart, Hamels in San Diego and Weaver in Northridge. Each made his major league debut in May 2006. The career numbers are strikingly similar. Hamels has pitched 1,194 innings, Weaver 1,176. Hamels is 77-55 with a 3.38 earned-run average, 297 walks and 1,127 strikeouts. Weaver is 86-47 with a 3.24 ERA, 315 walks and 1,022 strikeouts. Yet one number will be dramatically different, the number following the dollar sign.

Writers from around Tribune Co. are continuing their discussion about the upcoming Major League Baseball season, looking into their crystal balls to predict which National League teams will make it into the postseason. Join the conversation by leaving a comment of your own. Dylan Hernandez, Los Angeles Times The Phillies should repeat as East champions as the Big Three of Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels are incomparable. With Joey Votto, Jay Bruce and Brandon Phillips, the Reds have the most consistent lineup in their division.

Reporting from St. Louis -- Every time Cole Hamels took the mound for the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2008 postseason, he had the perfect formula. "Sometimes you just have blind luck," he said Monday. "And I just happened to be on my game and everything was just working, and [we were] able to get the runs for me. " His 2008 National League Championship Series and World Series most-valuable-player awards can be attributed to his 4-0 record and 1.80 earned-run average. In 35 innings over five starts in that postseason, he walked nine, struck out 30 and opponents hit .190.

Reporting from Baltimore -- Ruben Amaro Jr. was hired as general manager of the Philadelphia Phillies two weeks after the team celebrated the second World Series victory in franchise history. He replaced Pat Gillick, who was voted into the Hall of Fame two years later. Talk about a tough act to follow. "I thought to myself, 'OK, this is a pretty good situation. Just don't screw it up,'" Amaro says nearly three years later. He's done better than that. Backed by ownership that supported a $60-million payroll jump over the last two seasons, Amaro has turned the Phillies into the winningest team in baseball.

The Philadelphia Phillies' most successful starting pitcher is likely to spend the postseason in the bullpen. That is a tribute to the depth of a rotation topped by Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee , and certainly no knock on the amazing season turned in by rookie right-hander Vance Worley . Worley had as many big league starts coming into the season — two — as Halladay had Cy Young Awards, which is one reason he started the year in the...

A vote for Kennedy Odds are that the National League's Cy Young Award will go to someone from Philadelphia because the Phillies have three strong candidates in Roy Halladay (15-5, 2.53 earned-run average), Cole Hamels (13-7, a league-best 0.99 walks and hits per innings pitched) and Cliff Lee (12-7 with a major leagues-best five shutouts). But the most valuable pitcher in the NL this season has clearly been Arizona right-hander Ian Kennedy , who is tied with Halladay and Clayton Kershaw for the league lead with 15 wins and has made more starts and given up fewer hits that the Phillies' ace. Halladay is surrounded by quality arms.

When the time came for Matt Cain to step into the national spotlight, he was ready. Before scaling to what he would call the peak of his major league career, Cain had endured six years of minimal run support from a light-hitting San Francisco Giants lineup. He was hardened by the countless no-decisions and one-run losses responsible for his sub-.500 career record. So when Manager Bruce Bochy ran out to the mound at a crucial juncture of Game 3 of the National League Championship Series on Tuesday and looked into Cain's eyes, he said he figured he wouldn't see any doubt.

Pitcher Cole Hamels signed a three-year, $20.5-million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday, keeping the 25-year-old World Series most valuable player with the club through the 2011 season and avoiding an arbitration hearing. Hamels was 4-0 in the postseason with a 1.80 earned-run average to help the Phillies win their first World Series since 1980.

CC Sabathia , who joins Justin Verlander on the list of pitchers ruled out of the All-Star game because they are set to work next Sunday, says he would rather go to the Bahamas on vacation than Phoenix. The bet is he'll be there anyway. … And for what it's worth, Sabathia wouldn't even talk about the possibility of being used in a six-man rotation. He will use his opt-out clause to get a new deal in the off-season, and it's not a slam dunk he stays with the New York Yankees. … That was some at-bat Dustin Ackley had against Jonny Venters on Wednesday.

Reporting from Philadelphia — Don Mattingly recalled how he used to break down video of Cole Hamels when he was the Dodgers' hitting coach. Mattingly, now the team's manager, said he never saw Hamels pitch the way he pitched Wednesday night. "That's probably the best I've seen him," Mattingly said. The Dodgers might be performing better offensively these days, but they weren't about to hit a pitcher no other team is hitting. Hamels baffled the Dodgers over eight innings in the Philadelphia Phillies' 2-0 victory at Citizens Bank Park, improving to 8-2 and lowering his earned-run average to 2.58.