PHILADELPHIA -- Cole Hamels retrieved the ball from catcher Sal Fasano, and smiled knowingly. He knew he made a good pitch to Jason Giambi, and caught him at the knees.

Giambi, the Yankees slugger with a team-leading 20 homers -- two in the series -- gave the obligatory look of disgust to home-plate umpire Jim Reynolds. But he knew the unhittable pitch was exactly where Hamels wanted it, and where Giambi didn't.

Giambi looked similarly confused during each of his three whiffs and a foul out on Wednesday against Philadelphia's rookie phenom. The kid's mix of fastballs, changeups and curves had the veteran feeling rather useless.

"He's a harder throwing Barry Zito," Giambi said. "He has a lot of talent. He probably throws a little harder than Barry, but he pitches like a dead-ringer for him. He's got a good idea out there, good stuff, great command of his changeup and throws his breaking ball for strikes. What a great arm."

Despite Hamels returning to effectiveness, Jaret Wright, once a rookie phenom himself, was better in the Phillies' 5-0 loss to the Yankees. Wright and four relievers combined on a three-hit shutout, the first time this season that Philadelphia was blanked at home.

The Phillies didn't get a baserunner past second base, making third-base coach Bill Dancy lonely. The bigger picture for Philadelphia was the end of a poor 2-7 homestand in which it got swept by the Mets, and lost two of three to the Devil Rays and Yankees.

Philadelphia's .242 team batting average in June is the lowest in the National League. More disturbingly, the Phillies fell to 18-23 at home, making them one of three NL teams with a record below .500 at home and above .500 on the road.

"Our guys are trying too hard to play well at home," manager Charlie Manuel said. "I think we're pressing. I think they want to show people how good they are."

Instead, they're doing the opposite. They let Wright off the hook a lot on Wednesday, swinging at a lot of pitches out of the strike zone. The right-hander only threw 44 of 84 pitches for strikes, but didn't have to escape any jams.

"Sometimes it's trying too hard [to make things happen], and we were swinging at bad pitches," Ryan Howard said. "He was moving the ball around really well. That's about it."

To the struggles at home, Howard said, "I wouldn't necessarily say it's because it's home. We're not playing well, and it just happens to be that we're home. Hopefully, going on this road trip, we can relax a little bit, get things going and play how we're capable of playing, and not worry about everything else."

The Phillies will need to refocus as they journey through Boston, Baltimore and Toronto, three American League cities with teams that are collectively 11 games over .500.

"We're more relaxed and more aggressive on the road," Manuel said.

Hamels fared just fine at home, at least, and did so against names like Johnny Damon, Derek Jeter, Giambi, Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada. He passed through the big boys with relative ease in allowing two runs on six hits.

"Hamels mixed pitches good and had good command, and he was aggressive at the right times," Manuel said. "[He] kept us in the game, but we couldn't score."

The lefty went right after the Yankees, and said he was amped up for it.

"That's where your competitiveness comes out -- when you're playing a team that's the best money can buy," he said. "I think I made it more interesting than I'd like in a couple of innings."

Hamels surrendered a run in the fifth when Miguel Cairo tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Wright. He gave up another run in seventh, when Jeter singled in Andy Phillips.

As the players quietly packed their stuff for the hopefully refreshing two-week road trip, Aaron Rowand refused to dwell on this loss, or any on the homestand. To him, it was time to refocus.

"There's way too much negativity in this game to dwell on stuff," he said. "You go 3-for-10, you fail seven times and that's negative, but you're a good hitter. With all the stuff that goes with playing this game, if you're going to add another thing on it by dwelling on a loss, you put yourself behind the eight-ball.

"Going into the All-Star break with a good record is obviously a goal, but to accomplish your goals, you have to have short-term goals first. It's about the next day. If you try to put any more than that on your shoulders at one time, you're putting too much on your plate."