Line of the Day: Cole Hamels: August 6th, 2011

Cole Hamels allowed seven hits, one run and struck out five to earn his second complete game of the season in leading the Philadelphia Phillies to a 2-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants. He had pitched 8 2/3 shutout innings before allowing a home run to Pablo Sandoval. (video recap)

Line: 9 IP | 7 H | 1 ER | 0 BB | 5 K; W | QS | CG

(box score)

My fantasy perspective: Hamels raised his record to 13-6 and lowered his ERA to 2.53 (with a 2.62 FIP and a 2.85 xFIP). His 0.96 WHIP is now fourth-best in the majors and leads the National League, too.

A deeper look into his numbers on FanGraphs show his K% of 23% is right in line with his career percentage of 23.1% but his BB% of 4.8% is well below his career percentage of 6.2%, leading to a career-best K/BB ratio of 4.84.

Statement of fact: Cole Hamels is having a better year, statistically speaking, than Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee.

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