Insane For Shane: Phillies’ Centerfielder Shane Victorino

Posted by Danielle Wilson

I am a Shane maniac and have come to terms with this. The following is a recap of all things Shane in the past week.

 Let me start off the first week of "Insane For Shane" by getting this across: I am madly in love with Shane Patrick Victorino. It started back when I attended my first game, on May 31st, 2008. Sure, I was only 13, but I stared down our current 3-time Gold Glove Award winning All-Star for the entire duration of the game.

 Three years later and I’m still just as giddy as ever when Shane steps up to the plate or goes for a fly ball in center field.

Before I dive right into his statistics, I’m going to get a bit personal here, and tell you all about the Flyin’ Hawaiian.

First off, he is married, which is his only flaw. He married Melissa Smith in November 2009, but he already had a child with her, little Kali’a Makenna Victorino. Baby number two was exposed to the media while he was still a fetus, being shown off at Shane Victorino’s fashion show in August of 2010, which was for his foundation, to raise money for the Boys and Girls Club of Philadelphia. Kingston Shane Victorino was born less than one month later.

Seven months later, it’s time to play some baseball once again. Shane started the season off for the Phillies in center field of course, and also in the lead-off spot, which was where he was stationed for quite some time last year thanks to the ever so idle Jimmy Rollins.

On opening day, Shane kicked off the 2011 season with a whole bunch of nothing. He walked once, but was later caught stealing second, a seldom occurrence.

However, Shane turned things around in the next two games of the series, with two hits, three runs batted in, and…a sore calf? Shane was taken out of the game on Saturday after a collision with right fielder Ben Francisco due to miscommunication. Being the obsessive fan that I am, I was getting a little worried, but was soon filled with glee once Shane returned the next day to pinch-hit.

Then the Mets came to town, and we all know how game 1 went. Shane was 0-5 that night. The next two days were once again much better than the first. He went 2-5 on Wednesday with a triple and a double, batting in one runner, and scoring a run himself. The next day was almost a repeat, seeing that he went 2-5 with two hits and one run batted in. Not too shabby to kick off the first six games of the season, but he has the second lowest average out of the 8 regulars on the field (.261). The lowest average belongs to Carlos Ruiz (.176).

Shane only played in three games by April eighth last season, although, the season did start on the fifth and not the first. He went 2-13 with two runs batted in and 2 strikeouts. Not very good. But hey, that was last year, and this is this year. That is actually my favorite Shane Victorino quote, “last year is last year and this year is this year.” Good point, father time.

 There’s your weekly recap of everything Shane Victorino. Hopefully by this time next week I’ll have better numbers to share. Aloha. Don't forget to buy a few shirts from his clothing line!