Phillies enjoyed rare chance to attend Eagles game

The Phillies don’t often get the opportunity to see the Eagles play in person. So, when they realized that the Eagles would be playing the Vikings at home on Monday night, some players arranged to go together. More than 15 Phillies were in attendance, including Bryce Harper, who sat in Eagles super fan Mike Trout’s seats.

Bryson Stott was also at Lincoln Financial Field on Monday night. He said it didn’t take long for the fans sitting below the Phillies’ suites to realize who they were, despite the fact that they were in street clothes.

“Someone would drop a pass and then they would look to us and ask us why they couldn’t catch it,” he said. “Stuff like that.”

The Phillies started interacting with them, waving and pumping their fists. At one point, after Harper was shown on the big screen, a “Let’s go Phillies” chant broke out. For Stott, it was a chance to support the local NFL team in a way they normally aren’t able to during the season.

“We usually can’t go,” he said. “They play on Sundays normally and we play on Sunday. But yeah, it was a fun time.”

» READ MORE: Why Game 160 should be the deadline for the Phillies to clinch a playoff berth

Right fielder Nick Castellanos, who has been on the injured list since Sept. 3 with a right oblique strain in his side, could start a rehab assignment by this weekend if all goes well.

Castellanos planned to run the bases on Tuesday, do some outfield fundamentals, a throwing program, and take some swings off a tee and via live toss. If all that goes well, he could progress to overhand batting practice in the indoor cage.

Castellanos has the option to refuse a rehab assignment if he wants to, but interim manager Rob Thomson said he would suggest he take it.

Thomson said right-hander Zach Eflin, who was on the injured list from June 26 to Sept. 12 with a right knee bruise, was unavailable to pitch out of the bullpen against the Braves over the weekend because of back spasms. Thomson said Eflin feels “fine,” but the Phillies had him throw off a mound on Tuesday to see how that feels.

» READ MORE: Even after four straight losses, Phillies still likely to make playoffs

When right-hander Zack Wheeler started his throwing program during the offseason, he experienced some shoulder soreness and ended up not facing major league-caliber hitting in spring training. His first few starts of the season were uncharacteristically lackluster. Wheeler had a 5.79 ERA for the month of April.

Wheeler is coming off another injury — elbow inflammation, which has sidelined him since Aug. 20 — and will make his first start back on Wednesday. He will not have gone on a rehab assignment, but Thomson doesn’t believe that it will result in the same results the Phillies saw from their ace in April.

“Well, [I’m optimistic] because it’s a shorter period of downtime than it was at the start of the season,” Thomson said. “He didn’t have much time to build up. He’s had four months he’s been pitching now and then he had some time off. So I think he’s going to be fine.”