The Phillies have pushed Cole Hamels' next scheduled start back from Tuesday to Thursday to give him a mental break to deal with his struggles. Hamels is 2-11 on the season with a 4.58 ERA.
"It's like how I rested (Ryan) Howard," manager Charlie Manuel told MLB.com Saturday. "See if that won’t help him some. See if we can’t get him back to feeling good about himself. He benefits just by clearing his head a little bit and resting. We’ll give him a blow, mentally and physically. Mental has a lot to do with it."
Hamels does not think the idea of a mental break will make much of a difference, though he could use some time to rest his body.
"I don't know what he's talking about -- mental. That's Charlie," Hamels said. "I think it's just because I’ve been going every five days and traveling a lot. Sometimes you get the stressful innings and the physical toll just kind of adds up. I think they just want to make things a little more free and easy."
Hamel was hit hard in his last start, giving up four runs in six innings to the Padres.