Jaime Garcia concealed injury and now he's off roster

Jaime Garcia is off the St. Louis Cardinals roster for their National League Division Series against the Washington Nationals, and some of his teammates may not be sad to see him go.

The left-hander pitched two innings in Game 2 on Monday, allowing two hits, three walks and one run before being removed with discomfort in his left shoulder. The team announced at Tuesday's off-day workout at Nationals Park that Garcia was suffering from a rotator cuff strain and mild inflammation in his shoulder and was being replaced by right-hander Shelby Miller.

Although Garcia was ineffective against the Nationals, the Cardinals rallied to win 12-4 and tie the best-of-five series at 1-1.

The problem is Garcia had been dealing with the shoulder issue for several days and did not tell the team, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. That fact has some of Garcia's teammates miffed, according to the Post-Dispatch, as Joe Strauss explains:

Several teammates were incensed to learn that Garcia started such a monumental game if indeed compromised physically. A faction within the organization has remained skeptical about the severity of Garcia's condition despite a June diagnosis that he was suffering from an impingement and strain that required more than two months' rest and rehabilitation.

GM John Mozeliak said it was "frustrating" to learn of Garcia's injury after he pitched in the game.

In Garcia's defense, most players are dealing with injuries this team of year and try to play through them. Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton struggled through the postseason last year as he dealt with a sports hernia that required surgery after losing the World Series to the Cardinals.

"This is one of those things where it didn't get better the last couple days," said Garcia, who was 7-7 with a 3.92 ERA during the season. "Today I thought I'd go out there, make no excuses and give our team a chance to win. But it didn't get better again. It's hard to explain. It just wasn't right."

Miller, 22, was 1-0 with a 1.32 ERA in 13 2/3 innings and is one of the team's top prospects.