Phillies get great Jhoan Duran news as Don Mattingly era continues to look bright

The Philadelphia Phillies began the year off terribly, dropping 10 games in a row at one point, and causing Rob Thomson to be fired.

But, since Thomson's firing, and Don Mattingly took over, things have been trending in the right direction. The Phillies are 6-1 since Mattingly took over, and on Tuesday, they got some great news.

According to Matt Gelb of The Athletic, the Phillies officially got word back that Jhoan Duran, the team's flame-throwing closer, is back and in the bullpen going forward.

Phillies get Jhoan Duran back from injury

"Jhoan Duran is active tonight as expected," Gelb reports. "Trevor Richards will be the odd man out in (the) bullpen."

Getting Duran back is some incredible news for the Phillies, and it is coming at the right time. While things were rough for a while, the Phillies are now a bit hotter as a team, and they are getting their best reliever back.

Duran has been out for some time due to an oblique issue, but he had been trending in the right direction and was projected to return to the bullpen on Tuesday night.

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As the Phillies' homestand begins, Mattingly will finally be able to turn to Duran out of the bullpen since taking over for the Phillies over a week ago.

Before landing on the IL, Duran had a 1.35 ERA with eight strikeouts and five saves. Now rejoining the bullpen as the Phillies trend in a positive direction, there's plenty to be optimistic about for the Phillies.

The 15-20 Phillies are still well outside of the playoff hunt, but with how things are trending, including this Duran news, there's a lot of reason to be optimistic about the Phillies right now, even with such a poor record.

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