The Phillies stepped onto the field for last night’s game with DC in first place for the first time this season. After climbing uphill for 159 games, they had a chance to take a huge step towards winning the division. For that task, they turned to their ace, Cole Hamels. In a season where their pitching has gone from bad to worse to better to good enough, the one no doubt performer has been the 23 year old Hamels. Cole completed his first full season at 15-5 after dominating most of the game and winning 6-0. He threw 6 great innings after scuffling through the first 2. The difficulties early were helped by some awful umpiring behind the plate. In the end, he struck out 13, all of them after the from the 3rd inning on. He was lights out as the game wore on. In his last 2 starts since returning from the DL, he has been limited by a pitch count, but last night Charlie Manuel let him stretch out for 116 pitches.

“[Hamels] dominated tonight,” closer Brett Myers said. “If he pitches like tonight, there’s not going to be anybody who can hit him.”

Combined with another flopping, fading Mets performance in their 7-4 loss to the Marlins, the Phils are now 1 game up with just 2 to play. The offense was sparked as usual by Jimmy Rollins who had a 2 run single in the fifth inning to break open a scoreless game. Once the lineup had captured the lead, there was no doubt that Hamels was not going to let the Nats back into it. He struck out the side in the top of sixth.

“Every time I got into a situation where I could have thrown a changeup, I threw a curve instead,” Hamels said. “I talked to Brett and Jamie [Moyer], and sometimes you just need to go out for the first three innings and just throw fastballs and curveballs. It’s the equalizer.”

Rollins set a new MLB record for at bats in a season with 709. Rollins should be the NL MVP. The other contenders, Prince Fielder and Matt Holliday, have had great years but their teams will most likely not be in the playoffs. Rollins line is as impressive as theirs.

Ryan Howard set a new MLB record for strikeouts, before hitting his 45th homer of the year in the sixth. Howard is third in the majors in homers, and fourth in RBIs with 132. He has had a very good year after struggling so mightily early in the year. With those kinds of power numbers, the strikeouts don’t mean too much.

After winning an incredible 11 straight, the Rockies lost to the Diamondbacks, putting them 2 games back in the wild card race, and locking up a playoff spot for Arizona. The Rockies are tied with the Mets, trailing the Padres, who are just about a lock to get the wild card now. The Cubbies locked in the Central division title by shutting out Cincinnati, while Milwaukee lost to the Padres. What an up and down year for the Brewers. They looked great early on, but faded badly in the second half.

Assuming the Phils win the division, they probably face the Padres in the NLDS. The best offense against the best pitching in the league. That would be a great series.