No playoff team has broken through against Phillies left-hander Cole Hamels, who improved to 4-0 in four postseason outings Wednesday night. In taming the Dodgers twice, the Brewers, and now the Rays in Game 1 of the World Series, the 24-year-old southpaw has posted a 1.55 ERA and shackled right-handed hitters.

In Hamels’ four starts, right-handed batters are 9-for-69 (.130) with a single home run and a measly .203 slugging percentage against him. It was more of the same Wednesday in the Phillies’ 3-2 victory, with Hamels shutting down hitters by locating his fastball and confounding them with his offspeed stuff.

Right-handed hitters B.J. Upton, Evan Longoria, Willy Aybar and Dioner Navarro combined to go 0-for-12 facing Hamels. Then throw in lefty slugger Carlos Pena’s 0-for-3 night for good measure. Meanwhile, left-handed-hitting Akinori Iwamura was 3-for-3 against Hamels, collecting three of his team’s five hits. Go figure.

In three rounds of playoff action, the only right-handed hitter to give Hamels much trouble has been the Dodgers’ Manny Ramirez. He greeted the Phils ace with an RBI double in the opening inning of the National League Championship Series, and drilled a solo homer in Game 5 for the Dodgers’ only run in a 5-1 loss. The second victory earned Hamels MVP honors of the NLCS and secured his team’s ticket to the World Series.

Ramirez was 3-for-5 facing Hamels, and Matt Kemp was 2-for-5 in the two games. They are the only right-handed batters with multiple postseason hits against Hamels, and the southpaw countered by shutting down the Dodgers’ right-handed-hitting trio of Russell Martin, Rafael Furcal and Casey Blake, who were 1-for-18 with a single RBI against him.

With Hamels leading the way, Philadelphia took a bite out of Tampa Bay’s home-field advantage in the opener. Hamels is scheduled to pitch Game 5 Monday, after four days off, and the Game 1 victory is a big step in keeping him working on normal rest.

If the Rays bounce back to claim Games 2 and 3, however, Phils skipper Charlie Manuel will face the critical decision whether to pitch Hamels on three days’ rest in Sunday’s Game 4.