Dodgers pitcher Joel Peralta has been on the disabled list since April 25. (Getty Images)

ST. LOUIS — Joel Peralta has been mostly an invisble man since he came down with a dreaded case of a “dead arm” in April. That only changed last week, when he began throwing from flat ground at Dodger Stadium. He’ll continue now that he’s traveling with the club to St. Louis and Denver.

Peralta was throwing from up to 110 feet before Friday’s game, by his own estimate. He’s been told the pinched nerve that caused his dead arm (brought on by a night sleeping awkwardly on his neck, of all things) is behind him. He hasn’t felt the weakness in his right triceps for more than a week and expects to start throwing off a mound sometime during the four-game series in Denver beginning Monday.

“The doc at one point was talking surgery,” Peralta said, involving a compressed nerve in his spine. “That was a big relief for me.”

Manager Don Mattingly affirmed that the Dodgers dodged a bullet with the 39-year-old pitcher.

“It wasn’t looking very good there for a little bit,” Mattingly said. “Hopefully he’ll just keep moving forward.”

There is still no timetable for Peralta to return to game action. He did not allow a run in seven appearances over 5 ⅔ innings prior to the injury.