Victorino slams door on past
Does hitting a grand slam help a player's confidence?
"No, zero. That's behind you," said Shane Victorino, the local expert on the subject after his Game 2 grand slam against Milwaukee in the National League division series became the first in Phillies postseason history.
RON CORTES / Staff Photographer
"The fans, they're hungry for one, whatever sport that may be," says Shane Victorino, here doused in Milwaukee after Game 4. "I think this city senses how close we are, and they support us."
"You can't. That's the past," Victorino said, standing at his locker yesterday. "That's not something I can keep living on. It's nice to have one under your notch, but when it comes to being out there Thursday, you've got to throw anything out there behind you."
Contact staff writer Mike Jensen at 215-854-4489 or mjensen@phillynews.com.
That was Victorino's basic answer to a million questions in advance of tomorrow's National League Championship Series opener against Los Angeles at Citizens Bank Park. Does the four-game sweep of the Dodgers in late August matter? Or the four-game sweep by the Dodgers in L.A. in mid-August?
"None of it matters on Thursday night," said Victorino, well aware that nobody could have foreseen CC Sabathia's hanging him a slider with the bases loaded. He also is aware that he was 2 for 10 in the three other games in the Brewers series.
Victorino did see the questions coming.
"There's no meat on the floor here," he joked, watching the approaching wave of a media horde.
What about turning a green town red? he was asked later about the Phillies' replacing the Eagles in local hearts.
"OK, here we go," Victorino said, laughing. "It doesn't matter who wins a championship. I think we're playing for Philadelphia. We're not trying to outdo the Eagles. We're not trying to outdo the 76ers. We're not trying to outdo the Flyers. . . . We're focused on our goal and what we have ahead of us. We're not trying to make this a red town."
Originally, Victorino appeared destined to wear Dodgers blue, but the team that drafted him out of high school in Hawaii let him get away in the Rule 5 draft - twice. He was a Rule 5 pickup by San Diego in 2002, but was returned to the Dodgers when the Padres didn't keep him on their major-league roster.
That happened again after the Phillies took him in the Rule 5 draft in 2004, but the Dodgers didn't want him back. Victorino was asked whether he had hard feelings.
"You answered that," the 27-year-old centerfielder told the questioner, then paused. "No, no. . . . I always say to myself, 'One team's trash is another team's treasure.' I don't hold any grudges against them. I play the game to have fun. I love this game. . . . I just want to play this game."
Besides, he said, look around the clubhouse. How many Phillies spent their whole time in the organization?
"I got the opportunity here, and I'm happy for that," Victorino said. "I'm not going to try to figure out what could have happened there or what should have happened."
Obviously, the Flyin' Hawaiian isn't oblivious to the excitement created by the Phillies' first NL Championship Series since 1993.
"The fans, they're hungry for one, whatever sport that may be," he said. "I think this city senses how close we are, and they support us."
Victorino kept using the word opportunity and said he understood what the word means, even as he preached one game at a time.
"We don't have the ring on our finger," Victorino said. "It's not our championship yet. We still have to earn it. Until we get there, until we earn it - then I'm going to talk."
Contact staff writer Mike Jensen at 215-854-4489 or mjensen@phillynews.com.
