Hamels Scratched From Wednesday Start

Like a bad dream, the Phillies announced that left-hander Cole Hamels would be scratched from his scheduled start on Wednesday. The move comes after he felt a "pop" in his left shoulder while playing catch on Tuesday.

After facing all sorts of injuries through his young career, Cole Hamels had been healthy for a nice length of time - at least for him. That ended on Tuesday when Hamels felt a "pop" in his shoulder while playing catch. As a precaution, the Phillies have scratched him from his scheduled start at Shea Stadium on Wednesday.

The Phillies have sent Hamels back to Philadelphia to get his shoulder examined and the rookie is trying to stay optimistic. This is the first shoulder injury that he's had, after facing elbow tendinitis, a broken left hand and chronic back problems throughout his minor league career.

"It's frustrating, especially when you're training so hard to prevent these things from happening," said Hamels.

Thanks to Monday's off-day, the Phillies will move their starters up a day to fill in the hole and won't need to make a roster move to fill the spot. That means that Jon Lieber will pitch Wednesday and Brett Myers will face the Mets on Thursday afternoon.