How much funner can it get? Altherr stars in big win

Ladies and gentlemen: the absolute best series of 2017.

It’s time for a daily news report.

Rocket man

There’s a great nickname for Aaron Altherr: the Rhineland Rocket, given because he was born in Germany and because “rocket” is a good way to explain how he runs (he’s fast), how he fields (he’s fast to the ball) and how the ball zooms off his bat like said rocket.

Well the ball Wednesday night didn’t necessarily zoom as much as blast off high into the stratosphere before landing in the back of the first row in left field.

Altherr’s home run helped the Phils overcome a late deficit against the Dodgers (this isn’t getting old), and his actual zooming rocket of a single an inning later put ’em ahead for good. The Phillies beat the Dodgers 7-5. The Phils have taken three straight from baseball’s best team. Every game has been thrilling, with late scores, awesome plays (that Odubel catch to end it!), crazy things happening (Chase Utley’s triple hit a weird spot on the big wall) and hero moments.

Altherr went 3-for-4 and is now hitting .281/.351/.539 on the year with 19 home runs and 21 doubles. Among players with at least 350 plate appearances, Altherr is 35th in baseball in OPS. He’s proving the Phils can put him in their future plans.

The bullpen pulled off a decent job after Jake Thompson left (5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 K, 3 BB).

The Phils will try for the four-game sweep of the Dodgers this afternoon. Tune in, everyone.

Top pen

The Phillies won MLB.com’s Bullpen of the week last week.

There’s an actual scoring system for this, so it’s not just one writer’s discretion. And we’ve told you about how good this group is now. So congrats to Hector, Luis, Hoby, Victor, Ricardo, Kevin, Adam, Edubray, Yacksel … are we forgetting anyone?

It’s in a name

One of you fans named your kid after Rhys Hoskins.

Well, the middle name is Rhys.

That’s a bold move; you never know how the future is gonna go here. But I applaud the Schival family for getting out in front of the trend. Break that mold. I just hope you don’t feel like that family that named their kid Domonic. That one still hurts.

(By the way, this probably will NOT end up like that.)