"Relax, Cole Hamels admirers and pitching-savvy fans.

The Phillies left-hander, who left after five innings of Friday night's home loss to the Nationals, likely has a tired arm, something that is common at this time of year for pitchers, even the perceived brittle Hamels.

No threat of a stint on the disabled list; not even a missed start.

"Right now, that's what we think it is," said Phils pitching coach Rich Dubee before Saturday night's game at Citizens Bank Park. "The funny thing is, he warmed up in San Francisco [earlier this month] and he said, 'Boy, my army is heavy.' So we just talked about angling the ball and he goes out and he pitches a gem.

"Then his side session in between then and now was fabulous. He rebounded great. So it's a combination of workload, combination of East-West or West-East, whatever you want to call it. Just everything building up."

Roy Halladay (175.2), Hamels (172) and Cliff Lee (172) are 1-2-3 in the National League in innings pitched. Hamels (0.99) is first in the NL in WHIP and fifth in strikeouts with 155. He is 11th in pitches thrown (2,519). Halladay is second to the Cardinals' Chris Carpenter and Lee is seventh.

"We always keep tabs on it," Dubee added about the staff's pitch counts.

Dubee and manager Charlie Manuel also didn't rule out the thought of a six-man starting rotation at some point down the stretch. But that's not likely for some time because the Phillies have off-days Monday and Thursday, Aug. 25."