Aaron Altherr day-to-day with ‘mild hamstring strain’

The Phillies have a best offensive player, and his name is Aaron Altherr. And after Friday’s game against the Brewers, he’s the Phillies’ best injured offensive player.

Altherr left Friday’s game in the fifth inning with what the Phillies are calling a “mild hamstring strain.” He was batting lead-off, hit a double in his first at-bat, grounded out in the second, and hit another double in the fifth. Running out that fifth inning double is what got him. Here’s what he told CSN Philly:

"I felt something biting and felt like if I had ran harder, I'd make it worse," Altherr said. “Kind of shut it down a little bit, figured I shouldn't push it. I think it helped a little bit doing that. I felt a little tweak there with the hamstring. They wanted to play it safe and take me out.

"Right now, I'm pretty much day to day. We'll see what happens.”

Altherr is a smart guy, and thankfully he didn’t test his hamstring further. He’s not in the lineup for Saturday’s game at Miller Park, and right now the Phillies are saying that Altherr is day-to-day. If he stays day-to-day, things stay simple for awhile. Daniel Nava can fill in until he’s traded for a snack machine and a Nintendo Power Glove, and hopefully by then Altherr is better. If he goes on the DL, then the Phillies have to make some tough decisions about who to call up. (I can hear the chants of “COZENS! COZENS! COZENS!” in the distance.)

The Phillies need Altherr. He’s hit .288/.359/.539 in 2017, which is the best triple slash of any every day player on the team. Hopefully this injury doesn’t keep him out long.