Opening Day uncertain for Brown

Domonic Brown hasn't swung a bat or taken any fly balls in the outfield since coming off the field with left Achilles' soreness on Thursday night. But, on Tuesday, he said he's "moving in the right direction."

Brown was out of the lineup for the fifth straight day when the Phillies traveled to Orlando to take on the Atlanta Braves. He played catch and received treatment in the trainer's room for the tendinitis in his left Achilles'.

"I'm feeling better - much better," Brown said. "I'm going to start running here in the next couple days. I think the time off of not doing anything calmed it down a lot. I'm definitely feeling much better. I'm not even going to lie to you guys, I was a little nervous there before the MRI. To see the progression in the last three or four days, it's been much better. So hopefully I can be back on the field in another week or so, hopefully."

After an MRI revealed moderate tendinitis, the Phillies said last Friday that Brown could miss up to a week of action. If Brown begins running before the end of this week, he would still will likely need a couple of days of live hitting, too.

It's possible he could do all of that before Monday, which would then give him a full week to prepare for the regular season opener on April 6 at Citizens Bank Park. But that would also seem to be the best case scenario, if Brown is able to run and hit for a few days before the end of the weekend.

Is he concerned that he might have to start the season on the disabled list?

"I haven't even looked at it like that yet," Brown said of his Opening Day availability. "I'm just excited on the progression, really. Hopefully I can be ready for Opening Day. That's the goal as of right now. But we'll see what happens. I'm just excited it wasn't a tear. We're moving in the right direction."