Well, it’s been a long time coming. For seven straight starts Phillies ace Cole Hamels had gone without a win. That streak was the longest of his career. Was being the key word. The drought is now over. Although his teammates were once again unable to give him much run support, Hamels only needed two runs on the board to post his 10th win of the season.

The lefty only struck out three, but went eight strong innings allowing seven hits and walking no one. We’ve become accustomed to more punch-outs from Hamels, but he had all his pitches going all night long and got himself out of jams. Staff aces tend to get more trust from their managers and that’s exactly what Hamels got from Charlie Manuel. In the eighth inning, Manuel left Hamels in to face the Padres’ best three hitters (Brian Giles, Kevin Kouzmanoff, and Adrian Gonzalez) whom he promptly retired in succession.

The one-run lead was good enough for Brad Lidge to come into Petco Park and deliver his 30th consecutive save which once again marks a new Phillies record. Although he walked a batter, Lidge was masterful, striking out the side.

The good news here is that the Phillies pitching is continuing it’s success. Hamels went eight innings and left the door open for Lidge to slam it closed once again on an opponent. The bullpen got some rest, although in Hamels’ last inning both J.C. Romero and Ryan Madson were tossing warm-up pitches. The bad news, is that Phillies hitting continues to be anemic. It was a very good sign that Pat Burrell who hasn’t exactly shined as of late, got his 19th home run in the sixth inning, but other than that there weren’t many highlights for the Phillies who could only muster six hits seeing four San Diego pitchers.

Jimmy Rollins, who pretty much needed to go on a Manny Ramirez-esque tear to combat the comments he made last week about Phillies fans, only got one hit. But hey, maybe Jimmy’s right, maybe we should cheer the Phillies when they show us those captivating deep fly outs and invigorating double play ground outs.