Hamels feels 'really good,' on tap for Wednesday start

On the day he was supposed to take the mound against baseball's best team, only to have his start scratched with a minor right hamstring injury, Cole Hamels said he felt "really good."

He will not be going on the disabled list. His eyes nearly rolled out of his head when he was asked - twice.

Hamels plans on throwing his regular, in-between starts bullpen session on Sunday with an eye on rejoining the Phillies rotation on Wednesday afternoon at Yankees Stadium.

"That's the plan," Hamels said.

Hamels, who is likely to be the darling of next month's trade deadline, said he was simply exhibiting the same caution he has throughout the course of his career. It's the kind of care that he believes has kept him from suffering a major injury during his 9-plus big league seasons.

He first felt discomfort on Tuesday in Baltimore, following a bullpen session that came two days after throwing seven shutout innings in Pittsburgh.

"I was doing my leg routine that I normally do after bullpens," Hamels said. "To me it felt like a cramp. You just have to play it by ear and just make sure everything is going to come out OK, everything's being read properly from trainers. Just want to make them aware and then make sure we're all on the same page. … It's more of a precaution than anything."

The call wasn't officially made to skip Friday's start against the St. Louis Cardinals until about 24 hours after he felt the initial pain.

"I assumed it was just typical workouts, with the level of intensity that I try to do sometimes, there are going to be times where we're all sore and it recovers within the next couple days or over the next 24 to 48 hours," Hamels said.

So, to be clear, this is something you are 100 percent certain will not lead to a DL trip?

"I am (100 percent certain), yes," Hamels aid.

Hamels probably could have pushed himself to pitch Friday, but he's trying to be smart about his body, too. He didn't think "pushing the envelope" was wise and he wanted to get on "the best timetable on what I need to do in order to be safe and to keep my level of play at the level that I expect it to."

And so it appears to be a very minor blip on the radar of the 2015 season for Hamels, who enters the weekend 5-5 with a 2.96 ERA in 14 starts. Hamels ranked 12th in the NL in ERA and second in innings pitched (94 1/3) to Zach Greinke of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

With the Phillies sporting baseball's worst record and hoping to take their rebuild move into full gear next month, Hamels is expected to be traded by the deadline, which is six weeks from today. He was asked about how even the most minor of injuries could affect his trade status.

"My focus is to play on this team and win ballgames, and that's what I'm trying to do," he said. "And in order to be able to do that I have to be, you know, I want to maintain the level of play that I know I'm capable of going out there and doing. And that's not because of other situations, but it's because that's who I am. And what I've learned, in the past, with trying to push through certain injuries. There are times when you just want to be smart no matter what the circumstances are. I know they're a little bit different than previous circumstances in previous years, but I'm not going to change the way I like to play the game and prepare for the game."

Hamels, by the way, had his clothes and equipment back in his locker stall at Citizens Bank Park on Friday. A day earlier, when he was scratched from his start, Hamels cleared everything out to mess with his teammates, making them think he may have been traded.

He said he pulled the prank to boost morale, since the team was in the midst of a nine-game losing streak (that came to an end later that day).

"I think with a lot of them it worked," Hamels said with a smile. "I think even today they didn't know what to expect."