This week, we kick off a new Philliedelphia feature. Randomly each week, we will select one day and take a look back at what events happened in Phillies history. Everywhere from the early 80's to the World Series run in 2008. A fun fact to lead things off – on May 16th, the Phillies have a record of 48 wins and 46 losses.
This week, we look back to May 16th, 2008 with the Phillies hosting the Toronto Blue Jays. It was a memorable one for all in attendance, but for Jayson Werth especially. The Phillies were 24-19 at the time, long before we knew they would be hoisting a trophy in October. The first inning of the contest was very pedestrian, with Jamie Moyer and David Purcey both setting down the top of each respective lineup in order.
The bottom of the second was started with back-to-back walks to Pat Burrell and Ryan Howard. Up next was Phillies center fielder, Jayson Werth. He blasted a three-run homer to right to give the Phillies a 3-0 lead. One homer, normal.
In the bottom of the third, there were runners on first and third with one down and Ryan Howard singled in a run. Another Pat Burrell walk brought up Jayson Werth with the bases full of Phillies. Werth took a David Purcey 3-1 pitch over the wall in right field for a grand slam, extending the Phillies lead to 8-0. At that point, we knew this night was going to be special.
He wasn't finished either. With the Phillies up 9-2 in the fifth, Werth came to the plate already 2-for-2 with seven RBI's, one away from tying a Phillies record. He took the fourth pitch and blasted it to center for a solo home run, his third homer of the night, helping the Phillies to an eventual 10-3 victory.
The three homer performance was a surprise to all of us, but equally a surprise to the center-fielder as heard in his post-game interview from ESPN.
"Anything can happen on any given day, I guess," Werth said. "This game is crazy. It's not like I was trying to do anything like that. It just happened. I don't know what else to say. It's just crazy."
He had a chance for four, but instead fouled out to first base.
"Hitting a home run was probably on my mind," Werth said. "I was just looking for a good pitch to hit."
Werth powered himself into the Phillies record books with his eight RBI performance. It tied a franchise record held by four players, most recently by Mike Schmidt against Chicago on April 17, 1976. Here is who else completed the eight RBI performance in Philadelphia history….
- Kitty Bransfield, 7/11/1910, at PIT
- Gavvy Cravath, 8/8/15, at CIN
- Willie Jones, 8/20/1958, at STL
Werth also became the fourth center fielder in the last 50 years to have a three-homer, eight-RBI game.
Here is a quick highlight of Werth's night featured on MLB.com FastCast
Sure a lot of us dislike Jayson for leaving Philadelphia for a gigantic conract with a division rival and for his cocky attitude, but while he was here, he certainly made the Phillies wort…..I mean Werth watching.
Another quick fact about this day in Phillies history – In 1984, Steve Carlton hit his only career grand slam off of Fernando Valenzuela as the Phils beat Los Angeles 7-2 at Dodger Stadium.
Brandon Apter is a writer for Philliedelphia. Follow him on Twitter @ApterShock
