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Phillies-Marlins Preview

Sep 14, 2010 - 4:11 AM By NICOLINO DIBENEDETTO STATS Writer

Philadelphia (83-61) at Florida (73-69), 7:10 p.m. EDT

A lack of run support may have cost Cole Hamels a shot at becoming the first member of the Philadelphia Phillies to win the NL Cy Young Award in 23 years.

He hasn't needed much help lately.

Hamels looks to extend his career-high shutout streak with another dominant performance against the Florida Marlins on Tuesday night.

Hamels (10-10, 3.06 ERA) gets 3.54 runs of support per game to rank among the worst in the NL. That average shrinks to 2.00 in his 13 starts which have resulted in losses for the Phillies (84-61), while getting no runs in eight of them.

Despite not getting much help offensively, the left-hander has the lowest ERA of his five-year career while his 188 strikeouts are eight back of his personal best set in 2008 when he was named MVP of the World Series and the NL championship series.

If not for poor support, Hamels could be in contention for his first Cy Young, which hasn't been awarded to a member of the Phillies since Steve Bedrosian in 1987.

Hamels is also on a career-best 25-inning shutout streak over his last four starts, winning three.

The lineup finally came through as he extended that string Wednesday, producing a season high in run support for Hamels, who allowed four hits in seven innings of a 10-6 win over the Marlins (73-70).

Philadelphia hasn't had a longer scoreless streak since Randy Wolf went 27 innings in 2002.

"Baseball is a long season, and you go with what you've got," Hamels said. "I think I was able to make good pitches and be aggressive. That's all you can ask for. That's something that I've tried to strive for - just try to make good, aggressive pitches and execute pitch by pitch."

Hamels is 0-2 with a 3.79 ERA in six starts at Florida.

Philadelphia, which leads the East by one game over Atlanta, is batting.337 while winning six of seven. The Phillies collected 15 hits - four homers - in an 11-4 victory over the Marlins in the opener of this three-game set Monday.

"Our guys stay very even-keeled," manager Charlie Manuel said. "If you get to know them, we don't get real high, we don't get low. That's a good sign. That's the makeup of a good team."

The Phillies have won 15 of 18 at Florida but could have some difficulty at the plate with the Marlins scheduled to send Adalberto Mendez (1-0, 0.00) to the mound.

Mendez, 28, was superb in his major league debut against Philadelphia on Sept. 6, throwing six innings of one-hit ball while fanning six in a 7-1 win. An injury forced the right-hander to exit.

"I'm fine. It was just a cramp," said Mendez, who spent seven seasons in the minors before being recalled Sept. 4. "I've never had that happen before."

Dan Uggla will try to snap Hamels' scoreless streak after he homered Monday to become the first second baseman to hit 30 in a season four times.

Uggla's 151 homers are the most in Marlins' history. He has one against Hamels but is 5 for 35 against the southpaw.

The Phillies are expected to have shortstop Jimmy Rollins available after an MRI revealed a strained right hamstring that has sidelined him four games.

"He might be able to pinch-hit or something," Manuel said. "I don't know if he'll be ready to be back in the lineup Tuesday or Wednesday. He's still going to be sore."