Philadelphia's starting pitching was as good as advertised, and Cole Hamels finished off the Division Series in Cincinnati last night with a complete game masterpiece. The Reds never got multiple runners on base and only once put in a man in scoring position. And in the bottom of the ninth, when Joey Votto came to plate as the tying run, Hamels was nothing short of spectacular in painting the outside corner to get ahead, then going back to the same spot and inducing Votto to hit into a 4-6-3 double play that all but sealed the 2-0 win. Hamels outing was a nice companion effort to Roy Halladay's no-hitter in Game 1.

The Phillies' bats weren't spectacular in the win--the Cincinnati bullpen did a good job and only Edinson Volquez struggled in his start. Chase Utley was consistent throughout the series, including a home run last night, but otherwise the Phils relied on the Cincy defense to hand them most of their offense. The Reds committed six errors in the final two games. There's no question this is something that's about playoff experience, as well as the pressure Cincinnati surely felt to play at something better than their best if they were going to advance. Good teams force mistakes, regardless of the sport and the Phillies are a very good team.

In closing out this series, we have to give a tip of the cap to the baseball fans of the Queen City. The level of energy in Great American Ballpark for all nine innings was amazing. Normally when you see a shutdown performance like Hamels', it sucks the life out of the fans after the initial opening burst of energy. Not in the Queen City. That place was screaming on every pitch. A great baseball town is back on the scene and with a rotation of Johnny Cueto, Bronson Arroyo, Volquez and adding Aroldis Chapman next year, they aren't going away anytime soon.

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If Cincinnati's fans were great, Atlanta's were awful, as they rained the boos down when San Francisco rallied from 2-1 deficit in the ninth to win it. Aubrey Huff delivered a clutch two-out RBI and then journeyman second baseman Brooks Conrad let a groundball through his legs to allow the gamewinner. Like Bill Buckner before him, Conrad will wear goats horns. And like Buckner's legendary error in the 1986 Red Sox-Mets World Series, fans will likely forget that the game had already been tied when the goof occurred. But what exactly was the point of all the booing? I've never even heard Yankee Stadium get that vicious over letting the tying run score in a one-run game. On the field, the starting pitching was fantastic on both sides, with Jonathan Sanchez and Tim Hudson dueling through seven innings in a game that was 1-0 Frisco, before each team touched the bullpens for their remaining runs. Clearly, the loss of Billy Wagner for Atlanta may mean an early exit for Bobby Cox.

New York got good news yesterday, as Tampa Bay forced a Game 5 against Texas on Tuesday. Both teams will throw their aces as David Price and Cliff Lee go at it in the Trop. Evan Longoria led the way in forcing the decisive game, with two doubles and a home run, while Wade Davis threw five good innings before giving way to the pen. I thought Joe Maddon was taking a huge risk in not starting Price on short rest with the season on the line. But his gamble paid off and the Rays are now the favorites again. Whomever wins though, the Yankees won't have to face Price or Lee until Game 3 of the ALCS.

Image from philly.com

Dan Flaherty is the editor of the Sports Notebook Family, published through the Real Clear Sports Blog Network, offering daily MLB playoff coverage and game analysis in college football and the NFL