MLB Player News

Joseph is not in the lineup Friday against the Mets, Adam Rubin of ESPN reports.

This comes as no surprise, as Ryan Howard is expected to get more starts down the stretch as a last hurrah in Philadelphia. Joseph could come off the bench as a pinch hitter, though, especially given his solid power.

Manager Pete Mackanin said Howard will play a lot over the Phillies' final nine games of the season, Jim Salisbury of CSN Philadelphia reports.

Howard returned to the starting lineup Thursday after missing a few games with a sore knee. He went 1-for-2 with a walk and his 23rd home run of the season. He's now hit .272/.344/.642 with nine home runs since the beginning of August.

Cabrera went 3-for-6 against the Phillies on Thursday, with his three-run homer turning an 8-6 deficit into a 9-8 walkoff win in the 11th inning.

The red-hot shortstop punctuated his no-doubter to right-center with one of the most emphatic bat flips you'll ever see, celebrating the Mets' third comeback of the evening. Cabrera's fantasy owners have been flipping with delight themselves, as the 30-year-old has been on an offensive rampage since returning from the disabled list in the middle of August. Over that 32-game span, Cabrera's hitting .365 with nine homers, four steals, 22 RBI and 20 runs. He's been the most valuable shortstop in baseball by a strong margin during that time. Always a competent hitter but never a star, Cabrera's sure to return to normality eventually, but it wouldn't be surprising to see him stay hot for what remains of the regular season.

Bell is not in the lineup Thursday against the Brewers.

Bell has received significant playing time since being called up in mid-August, but he'll get a regular day off with Starling Marte returning to the lineup. It's unclear what will happen to Bell's playing time with the All-Star coming back, but the situation should become clearer in the coming days.

Joseph is not in the lineup Thursday against the Mets, Jack McCaffery of the Delaware County Daily Times reports.

Ryan Howard is expected to get a good number of the starts at first base down the stretch as the Phillies prepare to give him a proper sendoff, so Joseph will begin that trend Thursday now that Howard's knee is back to full health. Joseph's playing time may be down a bit for the remainder of the season, although he'll likely be in consideration for the primary first base job headed into spring training.

Howard (knee) is back in the lineup Thursday against the Mets, Meghan Montemurro of The News Journal reports.

Howard was held out of the lineup four consecutive games due to some issues with his knee, but it seems the extra days off have gotten the slugger back on track to finish out the season. Howard will take over at first base and is expected to get a good number of starts there as the Phillies give him a nice sendoff for all the years he spent with the team.

Goldschmidt went 2-for-4 with two homers and three RBI against the Padres on Wednesday.

After a 21-game homer drought in which Goldschmidt hit an uncharacteristic .244/.351/.308 with a whopping 28 strikeouts, he's found his stroke again in emphatic fashion over the last two games, banging out three homers among four hits. Obviously, the first baseman is a fantasy star, but in this season of increased offense across baseball, Goldy's fallen surprisingly short of his usual standards -- he's 10 shy of last year's 33 homers and 20 away from last year's 110 RBI with only a week and a half left to play.

Cabrera went 1-for-5 with a first-inning, two-run home run in the Mets' 4-3 loss at the hands of the Braves.

Cabrera followed up a Jose Reyes leadoff walk with a towering, upper-deck home run to right field. Cabrera now has 21 home runs on the year, 20 of them while playing shortstop, breaking a club record previously held by Reyes. The 30-year-old shortstop still has an outside chance of reaching his career high mark in homers of 25 set back in 2011.

Joseph went 2-for-5 with a two-run homer, three RBI and two runs in Wednesday's win over the White Sox.

Joseph's third-inning blast off White Sox starter Chris Sale was his 21st of the year, and his fourth in the team's last 10 games. After a brutal month of August (.211/.277/.404), the rookie first baseman has rebounded nicely in September. Through 47 at-bats this month, Joseph is hitting .340, his highest average for any month this season.

Flores (wrist) tried swinging Wednesday but his injured wrist flared up and he's unsure about what the next step will be, The Record's Matt Ehalt reports.

It sounds like Flores is out indefinitely after this setback, and far from a lock to return before the end of the regular season. T.J. Rivera should continue to handle the duties at the keystone in his absence.