Phillies Nuggets: Injury updates on Maton, Eflin

While there weren’t any further updates on Bryce Harper Thursday, Rob Thomson did pass along further information on Nick Maton and Zach Eflin before the Philadelphia Phillies’ series finale against the Atlanta Braves.

• Maton (right shoulder sprain) has progressed to throwing from second base. Rob Thomson said that they have to do some tests to make sure he can slide, but once they clear that hurdle, he’ll be ready to go on a rehab assignment.
• Thomson admitted Thursday that Maton’s recovery has taken a little longer than initially anticipated, but seemed optimistic that the 25-year-old isn’t far off.
• Eflin did receive a cortisone shot earlier this week on his right knee. Thomson said that comes with five days of inactivity, and that he believes Eflin is on the third day of not putting pressure on it. “It’s still up in the air” on whether the 28-year-old will pitch again before the All-Star Break. Given that the Phillies seem intent on making sure that Eflin is 100% the next time he pitches, the guess here is that he won’t make his next start until the second-half of the season, but we’ll see.

Big, Stupid Fire

The Phillies will wear their powder blue throwback uniforms in the series finale against the Braves, as they do for all Thursday games at Citizens Bank Park.

An underrated part about the #ThrowbackThursday promotion at Citizens Bank Park is how cool the on-deck circle looks:

The on-deck circle that the Phillies use for #ThrowbackThursdays is about as cool as it gets. pic.twitter.com/8M3M8uMbV6

— Tim Kelly (@TimKellySports) June 30, 2022

The only thing that would make #ThrowbackThursdays even better is if the Phillies could get the road team to also wear vintage uniforms on that day. However, that would be complicated by a few factors.

First of all, I believe the Phillies would have to finance the throwbacks being made for the visiting team. That would get pricey if done for every Thursday home game.

Secondly, the Phillies powder blue uniforms were their primary road uniforms from 1972-1989. If you asked a team like, say, the St. Louis Cardinals to wear throwbacks from a similar era, their road uniforms were also powder blue.

When the Phillies wore their infamous Saturday Night Special uniforms during the 2019 season, the Braves did wear pretty cool throwbacks from the late-1970s:

Of course, the Phillies lost this game 15-7, so perhaps they aren’t especially eager to collaborate with the Braves again.

Braves Lineup

1. Dansby Swanson, SS
2. Travis d’Arnaud, C
3. Matt Olson, 1B
4. Austin Riley, 3B
5. Marcell Ozuna, LF
6. William Contreras, DH
7. Adam Duvall, RF
8. Orlando Arcia, 2B
9. Michael Harris II, CF

Pitcher: RHP Ian Anderson

Phillies Lineup

1. Kyle Schwarber, LF
2. Rhys Hoskins, 1B
3. Nick Castellanos, RF
4. Darick Hall, DH
5. J.T. Realmuto, C
6. Didi Gregorius, SS
7. Alec Bohm, 3B
8. Bryson Stott, 2B
9. Matt Vierling, CF

Pitcher: RHP Aaron Nola

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