The Phillies saw Bryce Harper depart from Sunday's game to great alarm from Phillies fans.  With a playoff spot in sight, the Phillies could not afford to lose Harper, already down Rhys Hoskins and J.T. Realmuto.  The Phillies got good news on the Harper front Monday and made a series of moves ahead of the start of the four-game series against the Washington Nationals.

When the Phillies posted Monday's starting lineup, Harper was in it. He will rest his sore back by serving as the day's designated hitter.  Harper appeared to aggravate something in his back in a play in right field on Sunday.

While Harper is in the lineup as designated hitter, that means Realmuto is not.  There was some hope that Realmuto could serve as the designated hitter today.  Realmuto remains out.  

The Phillies will field an outfield Monday night consisting of Jay Bruce in right field, Roman Quinn in center, and Adam Haseley in left field.  Alec Bohm will serve as first baseman.

Meanwhile, the Phillies announced that reliever Heath Hembree was placed on the 10-day injured list with an elbow strain.   Hembree struggled in the Phillies bullpen since being acquired in a trade with the Boston Red Sox.  The injury opened up an opportunity for some outfield depth.

Mickey Moniak, optioned just Sunday, will return.  While players must remain optioned for 10 days, an exception can be made in an injury.  The Phillies need the outfield help since Harper is hurting, and Moniak will provide some protection.

Adonis Medina was optioned to Triple-A after Sunday's start.  That likely means Vince Velasquez will get one more start the rest of the way.  The Phillies need to use the bullpen for game two of tomorrow's doubleheader either way, since both Medina and Velasquez recently pitched.  Jake Arrieta and Spencer Howard remain on the injured list.

Returning to the bullpen in place of is Ramon Rosso.  Rosso started one of the bullpen games and gave the Phillies two-plus innings.  Rosso could be used during Tuesday's doubleheader, which has no scheduled starter.

By Kevin McCormick, Sports Talk Philly Editor

The list of potential candidates to become the next coach of the Sixers felt never-ending, but it looks like the finalists have been chosen. Shams Charania of The Athletic recently reported that Elton Brand is getting ready to begin his next round of interviews.

In the report, it said that over the next 10 days Brand plans to interview former Thunder head coach Billy Donovan, former Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni, and Clippers assistant coach Ty Lue. Now that these coaches are out of the bubble, Brand plans to speak with all three in Philadelphia about the vacant head coaching job.

These three coaches are arguably the biggest names in the coaching market, so it is not shocking that they are the potential finalist for the job. Ty Lue has been a name linked to the Sixers since the team decided to move on from Brett Brown.

Ty Lue becoming head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers is today’s talk in NBA rumorville.

IF that were to happen, I spoke to one person today who shared that James Posey is a person who would be of intrigue on Lue’s bench.

Something to look out for. pic.twitter.com/sQCwG88hCR

— 👑📍Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson, M.A. (@ScoopB) September 3, 2020

Although it seems like Lue has been the guy from the beginning, it still feels like the Sixers could go in a different direction. Recently Kieth Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that D'Antoni is the frontrunner for the position and the job is his to lose.

By Paul Bowman, Sports Talk Philly Editor

The Eagles entered their second game looking to pick themselves up after a brutal loss.

Instead, they were equally embarrassing this week.

The offense started to look good following a sputtering start, but that quickly changed while the defense apparently forgot there was a game this Sunday.

The offensive game plan changed and made some sense before disappearing altogether while the defense never figured out how it seemed like they had fewer players on the field than the offense each play.

By Tal Venada, Sports Talk Philly Contributor

For the Philadelphia Phillies faithful, these final games are either the “half-full or half-empty” conundrum. So whether you consider yourself a pessimist, a realist or an optimist, will you permit yourself to dream for a week? Even for a wild card?      

High Hopes:

Enjoying the action from home, most Phillies fans can only sit on the edge of their seats and squirm on each pitch with the tying run at home for the red pinstripes and between each fastball from their ninth-inning hurler. But some locals doubt the Fightins will be playing in a wild-card series.     

IN OTHER WORDS:

“There is no such thing as helplessness. It's just another word for giving up.” - Jefferson Smith

Based on the last two Septembers, the “Phils can’t reach the postseason” thinking has replaced “their division rivals have a better rotation” logic. And if they make the playoffs, some will probably say their opponent has a better record and home-field advantage for those games.              

Despite their recent injuries, the Phillies are demonstrating a strong desire to scratch out a victory with old-school baseball: moving the runner, bunting, stealing bases, hitting sacrifice flies, and plating a run with suicide and safety squeeze bunts. No, manager Joe Girardi isn’t waiting for a three-run homer like his predecessor.   

In ‘20, the Fightins will do what it takes to give the relief corps another run to work with because this September the attitude is different. But if you are ready to abandon them after a loss, then, you could be on a death watch and believe their elimination will probably happen sooner rather than later.  

The YWT Podcast is back for another week and takes a look at the Stanley Cup Final through Game 1 between the Dallas Stars and Tampa Bay Lightning. The guys break down the series, discuss some of the veterans on each side and review Game 1 and what is ahead in the series.

They also touch on some Flyers news from the week regarding Nicolas Aube-Kubel and discuss how the 2020-21 season may look whenever play resumes after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Final.

Join Kyle Collington and Kevin Durso for another week of hockey talk on the YWT Podcast.

You can listen to this episode of the podcast below and be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts and Podbean. 

You can also watch the episode and subscribe to watch all episodes of the YWT Podcast on YouTube.

As always, we want you to follow the podcast on Twitter @YWTpodcast, follow Kevin Durso on Twitter @Kevin_Durso, and follow producer Mike Giletto Jr. on Twitter @Mike_Giletto.