WHEN THE Giants tied the Phillies in the top of the ninth, Shane Victorino had a notion:
"I'm going to hit a walkoff homer. I'm going to hit a walkoff homer."
Then, he did.
The Phillies won yesterday, 9-8, ensuring a split of the series that ends today. Combined with their win Saturday, it put them squarely back at .500 - thanks to Cole Hamels, who pitched a complete game Saturday, and to Victorino.
He is preparing for his stardom. He already has a Web site: www.shanevictorino.iplayedthegame.com.
Yesterday was Shane Victorino Figurine Day at Citizens Bank Park. The doll depicts Victorino in a grass skirt, playing a ukulele, flashing the "shaka" sign. He sent a case of the dolls home to his parents in Maui. He kept another case for himself.
He hopes to trademark his "Flyin' Hawaiian" nickname and use it to market a clothing line. The logo will be his home state's island chain. The second-year player figures that sort of thing is a long way off.
"That stuff comes after you get famous," he said before the game.
Walkoff homers foster fame.
Victorino's unlikely solo shot off Giants righthander Kevin Correia (1-2) overcame poor starting pitching, shaky relief pitching, shoddy fielding and a managerial decision that will make the local scapegoat even less popular.
It was unlikely not because Victorino never homers – it was his fourth – but rather because the last time he hit one to the opposite field it was 2001 in Macon, Ga. He was playing for the Dodgers' low Class A team based in Wilmington, N.C. It came off lefthander Ben Kozlowski.
Yesterday was the first time in his life he hit an opposite-field homer against a righthander.
"I don't hit 'em oppo," said Victorino, a 5-9, 180-pound whippet. "Look at me, dude."
The 1-0, one-out fastball carried nicely in a friendly wind through a driving rain just over the leftfield fence, an illustration why pitchers generally hate to pitch at Citizens Bank Park.
"I didn't think it was going. I didn't think I hit it out," Victorino said. "It couldn't have happened at a better time."
It overshadowed the Phillies' other comebacks.
Aaron Rowand's two-run homer in the fourth gave the Phillies a 3-2 lead, but starter Freddy Garcia wasn't finished being generous. Neither was his defense.
Garcia gave up three in the fifth, hurt by three hits but also by a pair of misplays: Pat Burrell had a ball slip out of his hand in leftfield when he tried to hold on to his throw, allowing a run to score, and Chase Utley failed to knock down a grounder that was ruled a hit on the next play.
Garcia gave up a leadoff double and a single before getting one out in the sixth and leaving. Mike Zagurski entered and allowed both of those runners to score to make it 7-3.
Wes Helms came through with a two-run double in the seventh off rookie phenom Tim Lincecum, who got two outs before being pulled in favor of lefty Jack Taschner.
He walked Utley, then gave up a three-run homer off the batter's eye to Ryan Howard that made it 8-7.
"Fortunately, he left a fastball right there," said Howard, who is 8-for-25 with four homers and 12 RBI since coming off the 15-day disabled list May 25.
Ryan Madson relieved Geoff Geary with two outs and a man on first in the eighth to face Barry Bonds, who did not start but was up to pinch-hit. Madson's evil changeup worked: Bonds grounded out to end the inning, falling to 0-for-3 against Madson.
Phillies manager Charlie Manuel then treated Madson as he would a regular closer. Manuel has no closer – both Brett Myers and Tom Gordon are on the DL – so he chooses the best matchups available.
He let Madson hit in the eighth inning with a runner at second and two outs. Why?
Because switch-hitter Randy Winn was due to lead off in the ninth and is appreciably worse against righthanders, and because lefty hitters Fred Lewis and Ryan Klesko were due up second and third.
"I wanted him on their lefties," Manuel said.
To that point Madson, thanks to his diving changeup, was holding lefthanded hitters to a .189 average, by far the best numbers of any experienced reliever in the bullpen and 161 points better than Antonio Alfonseca, who was option B.
Madson got Winn to ground out. Then he walked Lewis and Klesko.
"No excuses. I just didn't get it done," Madson said.
Neither did Alfonseca (3-1), really, although he got two more outs and came away with the win, as well as a blown save after allowing the tying run to score.
Victorino got it done.
Afterward, the chatty, hustling rightfielder beamed. Bedecked with a dozen multicolored, plastic leis, it was his finest moment as a Phillie; his teammates lauded him as they passed his locker.
"Hula king," Jimmy Rollins said.
"It was Hawaiian day today," said Howard, noting the between-inning music and one between-innings dance show. "Hula day. It was fitting."
Rowand, a bobblehead/figurine connoisseur - he has two of Howard and one of Veterans Stadium above his locker - dissented.
"We've got to break out the leis more often, but I don't know about these [figurines]," he said.
Still, at least for yesterday, he had one of Victorino's in a place of honor by the others. *