In the regular season, Kershaw’s record was only 8-8, however that doesn’t tell the tale of how well he pitched. He had a 2.79 ERA and totaled 185 strikeouts in 171 innings.

In Kershaw’s other postseason start, he gave up two earned runs in 6.2 innings against the St. Louis Cardinals. Versus the Phillies, Kershaw will go against big game pitcher Cole Hamels — and that’s not even mentioning the intimidating batters the Phillies send to the plate.

Last year, Hamels was arguably the Phillies most important player on their way to the World Series championship. This season, he’s been mediocre. That said, he has a chance to redeem himself going up against Kershaw and the Dodgers on Thursday.

Clayton Kershaw - Los Angeles Dodgers (Image: Zuma Press)

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Clayton Kershaw to Start Game 1 for Dodgers

After five innings, the Rockies had built a 4-0 lead thanks to a two-run blast by Yorvit Torrealba and a quality effort by starting pitcher Aaron Cook. The Phillies made a push but the Rockies were able to hold on for a 5-4 victory.

For Philadelphia, perhaps the biggest surprise was the average play by starting pitcher Cole Hamels. Last season, Hamels was dominant in the Phillies run to the World Series championship. In his 2009 baseball postseason debut, Hamels went five innings and gave up seven hits and four earned runs.

The two teams will play Game 3 on Saturday. Future Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez will start the game on the mound for Philadelphia, while the Rockies will go with Jason Hammel.

Yorvit Torrealba - Colorado Rockies (Image: Zuma Press)

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Rockies Stun Phillies to Tie Series

To start the game, Cole Hamels went 6.2 strong innings — allowing only one earned run while striking out six. Chan Ho Park and Brett Myers set the table for the new closer Ryan Madson. Madson, who has replaced Brad Lidge as the closer, pitched the ninth to record his seventh save of the season.

While Lidge hasn’t been the closer since his latest ugly outing, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel says that this switch isn’t permanent. Instead, Manuel said that he’s just giving Lidge a break. However, if Lidge struggles, the good news for Philadelphia is that Madson seems to be up for the job.

With the win, the Phillies now lead the NL East by six games over the Florida Marlins and eight games over the Atlanta Braves. Unless they fall apart, the Phillies will at least have a chance to defend their title in the 2009 baseball playoffs.

Will Brad Lidge regain his role as closer? (Image: Zuma Press)

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Phillies Pitchers Power Past Mets

Cole Hamels, Philadelphia Phillies (Image: Newscom)

Hamels, who is left-handed, left the game after being hit. In the 3.1 innings he pitched against the Brewers, Hamels allowed four hits and two earned runs while striking out six batters.

It’s been a difficult start to the season for the 25-year-old. Last year, he played a vital role in bringing a World Series championship to Philadelphia. This season, Hamels has dealt with a few injuries and his first two starts of the season were poor. After three starts, Hamels now has an 0-2 record and an ERA of 9.69.

After the game, which the Phillies ended up losing 6-1 against the Brewers, Hamels said that he doesn’t think he’ll miss his next start.

Here’s the video of Cole Hamels getting hit by the liner.

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Video: Cole Hamels Hit By a Liner

Cole Hamels, Philadelphia Phillies (Image: Newscom)

Last season, Hamels was 14-10 with a 3.09 ERA as the Phillies won the 2008 World Series championship. The left-hander was 4-0 in the playoffs with a 1.80 ERA. In 35 postseason innings, Hamels had 30 strikeouts while only giving up 23 hits.

In the middle of March, the Phillies opted to give Hamels an anti-inflammatory shot in an attempt to reduce the swelling in and around his elbow. Over the last week, he has started to show improvement. Earlier in the spring, his fastball was in the low 80s. In a recent start, his fastball nearly hit 90 on the radar gun.

For the Phillies to win another World Series title in 2009, they will definitely need Hamels healthy and carrying the load down the stretch of the season. Although they have a number of good bats, Hamels is the team’s only elite starting pitcher.

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Cole Hamels Won’t Start Phillies Opener

In today’s Titusville Herald, Seth Murphy takes a look back at some of the mistakes by the Pirates in the draft, but he really hammers on the 2002 draft, when Pittsburgh selected Ball State right-hander Bryan Bullington with the number one overall pick. Murphy writes about how the Pirates took Bullington over guys that are stars today, including:

“B.J. Upton, Zack Greinke, Prince Fielder, Jeff Francis, Jeremy Hermida, Joe Saunders, Khalil Greene, Scott Kazmir, Nick Swisher, Cole Hamels, James Loney, Jeremy Guthrie (who the Pirates drafted in 2001 but didn’t sign), Jeff Francouer, Joe Blanton, Matt Cain and Mark Teahan.”

Bryan Bullington, who is still in search of his first big league win, has hopes of staying in the majors with the Pirates this time. Photo: Newscom

Well, that’s quite a list. Who knew these guys were going to be good? Wait… Fielder was heralded to be the next big slugger at the young age of 15, when he blasted a home run out of Detroit’s Tiger Stadium. And B.J. Upton also created quite a stir out of high school. And Greene was single-handedly leading the Clemson Tigers to the College World Series. I guess the Pirates really wanted the guy that dominated the Mid-American Conference instead of the Atlantic Coast Conference. So, yeah, I guess Murphy is right. The Pirates sure did mess up.

Maybe Pittsburgh is happy with their selection of Bullington. He owns a lifetime 5.89 earned run average in the big leagues with an 0-3 record. Although, he was recently called up to the Pirates’ active roster after making a sudden turnaround in the minors. But, it has taken Bullington much longer than these other guys drafted after him in 2002 to make it to the majors. So maybe, Bullington will finally become the superstar pitcher that the Pirates had hoped for when they drafted him, but I wouldn’t count on it. Already at 27-years-old, Bullington is behind most pitchers that make a name for themselves in the majors, especially those drafted as high as he was.

The 2008 draft is only days away and I’m sure most fans are not shocked to see the Pirates near the top of the draft order. That’s right – Pittsburgh will try to put an end to their horrible draft history this year with the second overall pick in the draft. Maybe this time they will get it right.

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Pittsburgh Pirates’ draft history a bit cloudy