PHILADELPHIA – Grant Roberts threw another live batting practice session yesterday afternoon, continuing to take steps on the way back from the disabled list. This time he threw without the protective screen in front of the mound.

“Knowing Grant, he’s probably getting bored with all this stuff,” Bobby Valentine said.

Roberts, on the DL since July 13 with shoulder tendinitis, displayed good velocity throwing to teammates such as Joe McEwing and Esix Snead, and will try again on Monday. He may be ready to pitch in a game by Wednesday.

“He felt fine and he looked a lot better,” Valentine said. “He was throwing hard with a good sharp breaking ball and his change-up was good. The first time he was real inconsistent with his command.”

Said Roberts: “My velocity was higher. I’d say I was throwing in the low 90s.”

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Roberto Alomar was back in the lineup after sitting out Thursday’s game with inflammation of his left knee. . . . Mike Piazza sat out last night’s game in order to play this afternoon. Vance Wilson, who started behind the plate, left the game with a contusion on his spine after getting hit in the second inning and is day-to-day. “My legs are still really fatigued,” Wilson said. “My toes feel as if they’re asleep.” . . . Rey Ordonez saw that he wasn’t playing short last night (Philly-area native McEwing was) and slammed his glove against a wall. It was unclear whether he was angry or goofing.

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Mo Vaughn ran himself into an out in the fourth. After hitting a liner into the right-field corner for a single and running hard around first, Vaughn stopped when he saw he was going to be dead meat at second. Bobby Abreu fired a strike to the first-base bag, but Vaughn slipped and fell on the turf retreating. He lost his helmet when he dove into first and was tagged out.

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The last time Jeromy Burnitz homered in three consecutive games was last Sept. 25-28 when he homered in four straight. . . . Roger Cedeno stole his first base since Aug. 16.