Phillies rightfielder Pence does like to eat

It's been six months since rightfielder Hunter Pence uttered those three little words: "Let's go eat."

And still, he can't escape them. "It was all kind of a joke," he said by phone recently on his way to hit some balls - and maybe play a game of knockout - at his baseball academy in Houston, "It started with [Shane] Victorino."

Last year's best-loved new Phillie joined the team midseason. His second day on the job was July 31, a home game against the Pirates that went into extra innings. At the end of the ninth, Shane Victorino told Pence that he wanted to win soon because he was . . . hungry.

Pence sympathized. He also complied, hitting a 10th-inning double then scoring on a double by Raul Ibanez. In the postgame, Sarge asked the Texan what he was thinking as he armed-and-legged it around third. Pence's answer? "Good game," he said, "Let's go eat."

Fans loved it. Suddenly, everyone wanted to take Pence out for dinner. Or lunch. Or breakfast.

But the new-guy-in-town didn't need our help. He easily found his own favorite joints for waffles and coffee. He also sampled fancier places like Butcher & Singer steakhouse and way-gourmet Talula's Garden. "There's food on that menu that I've never seen before," Pence said of the Washington Square restaurant. "Philly has really good food."

He even dug the clubhouse grub. "Pregame, I'll have peanut butter and honey on whole-wheat bread and fruit - blackberries, strawberries, bananas, kiwi. That's my secret energy booster."

(One thing he won't touch, at work or anywhere: Mushrooms. "Even something with truffle oil. I taste the flavor, and I'm like, eeeeh.")

Pence said has to eat out because, "I'm not the best at preparing food, unfortunately." He's not kidding. Last summer, he proved he wasn't just unskilled. He was pretty much a culinary hazard.

One particular morning, Pence was frying up some bacon that set off his condo complex's smoke alarms - "for like two hours." He still recalls the loudspeaker's message, " 'There's a fire in the building. Evacuate immediately.' I felt bad for everyone . . . It was so loud."

Then there was another kitchen mishap he refers to as, "the second incident," which he describes as, "a lot worse than the first incident." Again, he was making breakfast - this time, coffee and toaster waffles - when the phone rang. It was work, calling to say he'd won 2011's "Good Guy" award (which he came back to town to accept Monday from the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association). "In the middle of the conversation, I see this smoke. I thought it was my coffee; I need a new coffeemaker. Mine's old." It wasn't the joe, though. It was the toaster.

"My waffles were in flames. The fire got up to my cabinet. And, I know I shouldn't have done it, but I just filled up my teapot with water, and poured it on it." It worked, but, "The toaster's glass door shattered, and I had glass and smoke everywhere."

Pence still hasn't replaced the toaster. "Now, I'm eating cold waffles in the morning." Except nowadays, he doesn't wash 'em down with coffee. He prefers high-grade tea.

Green teas, Ayruvedic Chai, silver pearls, Oolong, even a fruitier flavor with lavender, which, said the outfielder, is "supposed to help you relax" fill up canisters in his kitchen. "I'll buy a bunch of leaves and mix and match and test the temperature and the timing." He said he was inspired to learn more about the beverage by 17th century samurai, sage and author Miyamoto Musashi. "Tea has become one of my passions."

Another of his more modern passions: Social media. Pence said at first, teammates like Victorino sort of made fun of him for spending so much time with fans on Facebook and Twitter. Now, the Flyin' Hawaiian is a tweet a minute. Same with Jimmy Rollins.

Although the easygoing rightfielder said there's no between-Phils competition to see who can get the most followers, at press time, @HunterPence3 had topped 117,000; @JimmyRollins11 was close behind at 115,531, and @ShaneVictorino had just passed 82K. As Pence himself might have tweeted, back when it was en vogue, #winning!

This season, No. 3 plans to do more winning, and not just for the Phillies. He's recently inked an endorsement deal with Liscio's Bakery, the Glassboro, N.J.-based company that supplies crusty long Italian rolls to Tony Luke's, Geno's Steaks, Chickie's and Pete's, Chink's and Citizens Bank Park. He and his roll sponsor are planning a fund-raiser for a hunger-related charity, and have already filmed a commercial.

Pence liked the Liscio's hoagie he filmed with so much, he asked if he could have it. Of course he could. "There was some kind of spice in it. It was a delicious sandwich."

Oh, Hunter. You had us at "eat."