Astros-Phillies Preview

The Philadelphia Phillies have a third consecutive NL East title in their sights, but a four-game series with the Houston Astros might not be the easiest way to achieve it.

Cole Hamels will try to help the Phillies get closer to the division crown Monday night when they attempt to beat the Astros for the first time this year.

The Phillies (90-65) lead the East by five games over second-place Atlanta with seven to play, giving them a magic number of three. The Braves open a three-game home series against third-place Florida on Monday.

Philadelphia beat Milwaukee 6-5 on Sunday, when Ryan Madson struck out Mike Cameron to end the game with a runner on third.

"Every game is huge right now," Madson said. "The guys have been scoring runs for us and we need to hold it. We've been waiting a couple of days for that to happen. I finally got the chance and it worked out."

The Phillies, though, were swept at Houston (72-83) in four games Sept. 4-7, and are 5-11 in the last 16 meetings at Citizens Bank Park.

Hamels (10-9, 4.11 ERA) lost to the Astros on Sept. 6, when he allowed four runs and eight hits with six strikeouts in six innings. For his career, the left-hander is 3-1 with a 4.66 ERA in six starts against Houston.

He's 2-0 with a 2.49 ERA in three starts since the Sept. 6 loss.

Hamels was let down by his relievers Wednesday at Florida. He allowed four runs in seven innings and left with a two-run lead, but Madson and closer Brad Lidge gave up three runs in the final 1 2/3 innings of a 7-6 defeat.

The bullpen has been a major problem of late, posting an 0-2 record and 5.72 ERA as the Phillies have dropped four of seven.

"To a man, we would like to go out there, handle our business and keeping winning," shortstop Jimmy Rollins told the Phillies' official Web site. "Get on a good stretch, and by doing so we'll have some momentum going into the playoffs.

"We're doing OK. We do some things good. Some things like, what the heck is going on out there? It looks like a Little League game right now. But let's put a nice homestand together and see where that takes us."

Houston is coming off a 3-2 win over Cincinnati -- only its second victory in 13 games.

"It's been definitely a rough year and the fans that are still there are true fans, and we certainly appreciate that as players," first baseman Lance Berkman told the Astros' official Web site. "It's always nice when you can close out the home portion of the schedule with a victory."

The Astros will give Wilton Lopez (0-0, 8.44) his first start in place of fellow rookie Bud Norris, who's been shut down for the remainder of the season due to an accumulation of innings pitched.

A native of Nicaragua, Lopez has made six relief appearances since being recalled from Double-A Corpus Christi on Aug. 28. The right-hander, who will face Philadelphia for the first time, has allowed two unearned runs and seven hits in three innings over his last two games.

He was 4-5 with a 4.73 ERA in 29 games -- 15 starts -- with Corpus Christi.