Phillies news and links — A team worth loving

Good morning! Doesn’t it feel good to love a baseball team that doesn’t completely suck the life out of you?

This team is super ultra fun, even when they lose. And believe me, they will lose this year. I’m not stupid enough to think this is going to last all season. I lived through April-May 2016, so they’re not going to fool me again. But this year, there’s a feeling of hope and improvement that goes along with everything that happens. They’ll lose, but not because they’re not good enough to win, but just because they didn’t that particular that night. Does that make sense?

It doesn’t matter. This team is fun and great and I love them.

MAIKEL FRANCO’S GRAND SLAM WAS GLORIOUS

You want evidence, you say? Well I’ve got evidence. BEHOLD!

::angels singing::

Here’s a view from the stands.

Jorge Alfaro is doing it all, kids

Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly wrote about Alfaro’s insanely hot start, and it’s all good news. Less good news, though, is this logical take from Matt Gelb.

BOOOOO. He’s right, but BOOOOO. The Phillies want him to have as much time to develop as possible, since he’s the guy they want there for the future. No reason to shoot Cameron Rupp into the sun prematurely, you know.

Hector Neris wins at life

Hector Neris is having a bit of a rocky time right now, but Pete Mackanin is continuing to trust him to get out of sticky situations, which is so wonderful to see. Neris has also chosen his walk-out music.

EYE OF THE TIGER, HELL YES. Why did he choose that? Todd Zolecki of MLB.com found out.

"I needed to pick a song so I asked my agent for some help. He said, 'Remember, Rocky Balboa is from Philly. They might like it here.'" -- Phillies right-hander Hector Neris, on why he chose Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" as his entrance music in the ninth inning. Neris is the Phillies' unofficial closer

Hector Neris has a smart agent.

Clay Buchholz apologized, but he didn’t have to

Clay Buchholz apologized to Matt Klentak and his teammates yesterday for getting injured.

That’s sweet, but insane. It’s not like Buchholz meant to get injured. It’s part of the game. Poor guy. Jim Salisbury wrote up more of what Buchholz said, and you should read it, if only because he seems like a good guy who got dealt an unfortunate hand.

It’s been seven seconds since we’ve talked about Maikel Franco

So let’s talk about him some more!

In other news...

• A new episode of The Dirty Inning podcast is out! Go listen, because it’s great.
• So apparently Reading Fightins pitcher Thomas Eshelman can rake.

• The Phillies are definitely looking better than they did last year.

Tweet of the day

Today I’ve got two for you, and you’re gonna love both of them.

METS FAILHORN

And for tweet the second, Zach Eflin is absolutely adorable.