It was earlier reported that Cole Hamels had no structural damage to his left pitching elbow. Hamels will start long tossing on Thursday, however, Rich Dubee declared Hamels chances for opening night “a long shot.”
“I don’t know that it’s out of the question, but I think it would be a long shot,” Dubee said. “Opening Day is probably a long shot, just because we’ve got to get him up and running. We’ve got to stretch him out. I think he’s been up to 52 or 54 pitches. We like our guys, if they’re going to pitch, hopefully they’ll be ready to throw 100 pitches by Opening Day. It could be a long shot. Again, this guy has always risen to the occasion. It’s good that we caught it when we did. It wasn’t getting cleared up. It wasn’t getting any worse, but it wasn’t getting any better.”
If Hamels were to miss opening day, Brett Myers will likely get the call.
