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Phillies Notes | Gordon placed on disabled list

Phillies Notes SAN FRANCISCO - The Phillies officially placed closer Tom Gordon on the disabled list yesterday with inflammation in his right rotator cuff. They bought the contract of triple-A righthander Yoel Hernandez to take his place.

Phillies Notes

SAN FRANCISCO - The Phillies officially placed closer

Tom Gordon

on the disabled list yesterday with inflammation in his right rotator cuff. They bought the contract of triple-A righthander

Yoel Hernandez

to take his place.

Hernandez, 27, was 1-0 with a 3.68 ERA and three saves in seven relief appearances for the Ottawa Lynx. After allowing four runs in his season debut, he had pitched 61/3 scoreless innings.

Opponents had hit .233 against him.

Hernandez got the call instead of potential candidates such as righthanders Clay Condrey and Joe Bisenius, both of whom opened the season on the 25-man roster.

"We thought he was the guy that could help us the most," manager Charlie Manuel said.

Hernandez could have made his big-league debut earlier, but he pitched in just nine games last season for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre because of a strained right shoulder. He had a 1.74 ERA in six appearances when he went down for the season.

Gordon is eligible to be activated May 17 but isn't expected to throw next until Friday. He received an injection in his shoulder Thursday, and will be reevaluated Monday or Tuesday.

Howard's end

Ryan Howard entered last night's game against San Francisco at AT&T Park hitting just .205 with four home runs and 16 RBIs. He is hitting just .135 against lefthanders with a remarkable 21 strikeouts in 37 at-bats (56.8 percent of his at-bats against lefthanders). He has struck out 15 times in 51 at-bats against righthanders (29.4 percent).

That's worth noting because the Phillies face Giants lefthander Noah Lowry (3-2, 3.69 ERA) this afternoon.

- Todd Zolecki