Hamels has an MRI on his stiff shoulder

Cole Hamels' tight left shoulder in his last start Friday against the Washington Nationals became enough of a concern Monday that he underwent an MRI examination, according to a report on csnphilly.com.

Attempts to confirm that report through the Phillies were unsuccessful.

Hamels, 13-7 with a 2.62 ERA, is in the midst of his best season, but after allowing three runs on six hits and four walks in Friday's loss to the Nationals, he said he had trouble getting loose. Hamels shrugged off the problem as nothing major.

"It's just that part of the year," he said. "It's kind of something when you fatigue a little bit and you have to battle through it and move on to the next game."

Thanks to Sunday's postponement, Hamels' next start has been pushed back from Thursday against the Arizona Diamondbacks at home to Friday against the Nationals in Washington. If he is unable to make that start, the Phillies would likely insert Kyle Kendrick into his spot in the rotation.

Hamels was asked directly if he thought he was injured after his last start, but he gave an indirect answer.

"Not that I know of," he said. "It's tough. You want to go out there and have success and I just wasn't able to locate my pitches. And when you're not able to loosen up and get things going, it makes it a little bit tougher."

Thanks to their sizable lead over the second-place Atlanta Braves in the National League East, the Phillies are likely to err on the side of caution if anything is remotely wrong with any of their top pitchers during the final 61/2 weeks of the season.

Interestingly, pitching coach Rich Dubee even admitted to considering the idea of a six-man rotation to give extra rest to his stable of stud pitchers.

More teams than ever have flirted with the six-man rotation this season. The Chicago White Sox went that direction most of this season before trading Edwin Jackson at the end of July. The Kansas City Royals, New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays also used six starters at various times this season.

"We might, we might," Dubee said last week. "That's not out of the question."

The obvious benefit is extra rest for Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Hamels. Halladay heads into his start Tuesday night against the Diamondbacks tied for the league lead with the Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw in innings pitched (1752/3). Lee and Hamels were tied for third (172).

The idea now is to have the Phillies top trio as fresh as possible when the postseason rolls around.

History shows that extra rest has always been beneficial for Halladay and Lee. Halladay has a career record of 64-29 with a 2.82 ERA when getting five or more days between starts. With exactly five days of rest, he is 44-18 with a 2.62 ERA, which is considerably better than his 3.26 career ERA. This season, Halladay has been slightly better on regular rest (9-2, 2.41 ERA) than extra rest (6-2, 2.63).

Lee is 5-2 with a 2.39 ERA when he has had at least five days between starts this season compared to 7-5 with a 3.17 ERA on four days rest. His career record with five or more days of rest is 51-25 with a 3.31 ERA. On four days rest, he is 63-43 with a 4.08 ERA.

Hamels, interestingly enough, has always pitched better on regular rest. He is 45-25 with a 3.16 ERA on four days rest and only 28-27 with a 3.68 ERA with extra rest during his career. He is 10-3 with a 2.07 ERA on four days rest and 3-4 with a 3.66 ERA on extra rest this season.

Extra rest, however, may be awaiting Hamels depending upon what the results of Monday's MRI examination reveal.