King Cole leads Phillies to sweep

(AP Photo/John Bazemore)

It's amazing how quickly things can turn around. Heading into this week, things looked grim for the Phillies, who had lost 11 of their last 14 games and were losing their grip on first place. Now, following a three game sweep of the Braves, everything seems right again.

Cole Hamels was the story of tonight's win, nearly shutting out Atlanta in a 4-1 win. Hamels was able to go 8 and 2/3rds innings without giving up a run before running into some trouble in the 9th that forced Tom Gordon to have to finish off the game. Hamels ended up giving up only 5 hits and 1 run while striking out 7 batters. It was good to see him have is first truly dominating performance since he struck out 13 Marlins back on June 11th.

Offensively the Phillies relied on the longball, with Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Pedro Feliz all hitting homers. Howard and Utley continue to be near the top of the league in both RBIs and homers, with Howard leading in RBIs and Utley leading in homers.

The Phillies now set their sights on a four game series with their biggest rivals, the New York Mets. The series begins tomorrow with a tough pitching match-up as newly anointed starter J.A. Happ will take on Johan Santana. It should be an interesting series, with the Mets looking to get back in the race and the Phillies looking to put them away.

Highlights of Thursday's win: