Call it The 2011 Phillies: A Season in Tweets.
Or really, a three-part tragicomic opera in 140-character bursts from the players themselves.
An in-their-psyche seat for a regular-season thrill ride (#goodgame, #letsgoeat), a dubious view of how players coped with elimination (#letsgogolf).
In the beginning, there was @HunterPence9.
Fresh from Houston, his Twitter handle still reflecting his old Astros number, the dude with the wacky swing sure could tweet.
Within a week, @hunterpence9 had a catchphrase for the whole city, for the season. Born in a postgame interview with Sarge, Gary Matthews, it blew up on Twitter as, inevitably, a hashtag: #letsgoeat.
As in, "Good game, let's go eat." Which is what Pence told Sarge he had said to Shane Victorino after a game-winning hit. (Running in from the outfield, Victorino had told him to get a hit and win the game, because he was hungry.)
With #letsgoeat as a hashtag, it was off to the Twitter races for Pence.
Pence seamlessly made the transition to @HunterPence3 both in uniform and on his BlackBerry. The earnestly goofy ringleader was a natural, collecting 100,000 followers who made a sport of getting him to retweet or reply to their #letsgoeat tweets, T-shirt designs, and lame jokes (and eventually, a billboard). Hamelsfan3535 was among the lucky retweeted for his gripping: "lets go eat; playoff style. #winning.")
Pence supplied punch lines. "Just set off the fire alarm at my building cooking some bacon...woops," he tweeted. Then: "The bacon was not burned! It was delicious, thanks." And thank you.
Pence brought on other young Phillies. Hipster rookie pitcher Vance Worley (@vanimal_49). There was @mikestutes, the bullpen dude. There were 102 wins.
As @vanimal_49, Worley seemed content to find his fellow sneaker obsessives and talk shoes.
Not so Jimmy Rollins, whose Twitter jones churned all night.
With 87K-plus followers, 5,700-plus tweets, and an answer for everyone, @JimmyRollins11 taunted fans by rooting for the 49ers after the Phillies lost, which followed his criticism of Game 2's home crowd as too quiet. #thatshowherolls.
Pence had the sense to lie low after defeat and express disappointment. He was, Twitter-wise, appropriately subdued.
Enter Victorino, who announced his late arrival on Twitter on Sept. 27 with an "Aloha Everyone." Wired up, he soon had 50,000 followers.
