The Philadelphia Phillies are starting to their team back in order. First it was Chase Utley returning from the disabled list, and now the team has activated Ryan Howard a little quicker than expected.
According to Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Howard’s activation was more out of necessity. He was expected to make another rehab start tonight at Lehigh Valley (they were expecting a sell-out. Oops), but they took him off the DL because Ross Gload had to be shelved with a groin strain that has been getting worse.
So, Howard is in the lineup tonight, starting at first base and batting cleanup. Also in the lineup tonight is Domonic Brown. He’ll be giving Jayson Werth the night off and now it looks like he’ll spend the rest of the year on the team.
Gload can’t come off to the DL until a few days into September, when the rosters will be expanded any way.
Ruben Amaro, Jr. said that they wanted to send Brown down to Triple-A for a bit just to get him some regular at-bats. But, that’s not happening and Brown is here to stay, possibly for good. And when I say “for good,” I mean Werth is probably gone after this season.
