Victorino ready to return to Phillies

TRENTON - After nine plate appearances in 2 days, after swinging hard from both sides of the plate, after running with abandon on the bases, Phillies centerfielder Shane Victorino is ready to go.

Not 100 percent, but ready to go.

On the 15-day disabled list with a sprained right thumb, Victorino yesterday went 1-for-3 with a walk and a towering foul ball down the leftfield line for the Double A Reading Phillies in their 4-3 win over the Trenton Thunder and Yankees prospect Manny Banuelos. He was 3-for-5 with a deep double to right-centerfield Saturday, also against the Thunder.

The game was observed by 7,023, most of whom were rooting for the R-Phils.

A switch-hitter, Victorino has laid on a power swing from both sides of the plate. He was fine in the field, aggressive and fleet on the bases and, as such, is eager to join the Phillies in Chicago today and come off the DL when he is eligible, tomorrow.

As significantly, perhaps, Victorino played through pain during his at-bats. In his second plate appearance against Banuelo, Victorino reached out and pushed a changeup foul. Later, he muscled a jammed groundball through the left side. That hurt, too.

"There's going to be pain there," said Victorino, who exited the game after the ninth inning and forfeited his last plate appearance. "As long as I can play through it, I'm going to."

The Phillies will take him, indicated assistant general manager Scott Proefrock.

Victorino is a Gold Glove fielder. He leads the Phillies with a .303 batting average. He would have played in the All Star Game last week if he hadn't tripped on the carpet in Toronto's Rogers Centre on July 3 and sprained the thumb.

As he has rushed to return to the team, it wasn't until he fouled off the changeup that he felt real discomfort.

"I fouled off a changeup that stung me a little bit in that second at-bat," Victorino said, and surrendered. "I took it easy the rest of that at-bat. I told the catcher, 'Just tell him to throw it down the middle. I'm not swinging.' "

Banuelos obliged and struck him out.

"It was definitely a good test," Victorino said of the rehab assignment. "It hurts me from the left side more. It's the bottom hand. My top hand's sitting on it."

Against a righthanded reliever in the seventh, Victorino grounded out to shortstop.

He is anything but fully ready, noted R-Phils manager Mark Parent.

"You saw - he was pulling that hand off in his follow through," Parent said. "But that will be between him and the Phillies' training staff. He's such a competitor, I doubt anyone will get a straight answer from him."

As much of a concern as the thumb is, it seemed that Victorino was as interested in making sure that his legs were big-league ready. He missed 2 weeks at the end of May with a calf strain. He said he was unable to properly train during his most recent stay on the DL.

And, so, he ran the bases recklessly.

He went from first to third on a soft single by Freddy Galvis in the first inning. Galvis, trying to steal second, got caught in a rundown, and Victorino scored during the rundown.

The throw from the shortstop sailed high and wide, but it was, perhaps, not the safest play for an All-Star on a rehab assignment, eh? There could have been a tag play, a collision, any number of catastrophes.

"That's how I play the game. I play at one speed. Sometimes, that gets me into trouble," Victorino said.

It got him thrown out in the fifth. He singled, moved to second on a sacrifice, then, with two out, on a 3-0 pitch to Matt Rizzotti, the R-Phils' potent cleanup hitter, Victorino was thrown out trying to steal third.

He wasn't being greedy, he said. He was just testing his wheels.

"When I [tried to steal] third, I didn't go 100 percent. I just wanted to feel myself get back the adrenalized type of movement," he said. "It's one step closer to me to know I'm OK. My body's feeling good."

He looked safe. But that play wasn't the umpires' most debatable call, nor was it Victorino's most embarrassing moment.

He thought the long foul ball in the first inning was a home run. It was ruled foul after it crossed high over the 30-foot-high foul pole. Victorino casually trotted all the way to third base, where Parent, with perfect comedic timing, finally let him know it was foul.

Two steps toward home plate, Victorino stood, hands in the air, and said to Parent, "I appreciate the fact you let me run around the bases."

Phillies teammate Brad Lidge, also on a rehab stint, was howling, during the game and afterward:

"I hope that's on YouTube somewhere!" Lidge crowed.

At least Victorino and his Phillies teammates will have something to talk about today.