Hunter Pence

ARLINGTON, Texas - His friends in this city between Dallas and Fort Worth, a hybrid of North Texas' boom-and-bust history, talk often of Hunter Pence's assets, a Boy Scout litany of humility, intelligence, determination, strength, and loyalty. But as they also make clear, the story of the newest Phillies favorite is also noteworthy for what he didn't have - the advantages money can buy a baseball prospect. Pence's father, Howard, whose own athletic ambitions were thwarted by polio, supported his family ably, but for the consultant in the wildly fluctuating oil business, some times were better than others.

WASHINGTON - As Ruben Amaro Jr. and various members of his front office emerged from a tunnel at Nationals Park early Tuesday evening, you half-expected them to recoil in pain at the sudden burst of sunlight. The group had spent much of the previous 3 days hunkered down at the team hotel, laying the groundwork for one of the more dramatic afternoons in recent club history. By the time the annual non-waiver trade deadline arrived, the Phillies had parted ways with two-thirds of their outfield, exchanging Hunter Pence and Shane Victorino for a well-regarded prospect, a young major league reliever, and a part-time major league outfielder, along with a couple of minor league projects.

THE BOY WAS NAMED, Howard Pence said, after his wife read some scriptures about "The Mighty Hunter of the Lord. " His middle name was a nod to Hunter's great-great-grandfather Andrew Larsen, owner of two Wisconsin farms, husband to a 5-foot woman who was three-quarters Blackfoot Indian. So there you have it. The roots of Hunter Andrew Pence's gait, the crazy-legged way Philly's newest favorite son approaches just about any physical activity, traces to the earliest inhabitants of this country, even before baseball was deemed its pastime.

NOT SURPRISINGLY, Hunter Pence wanted to keep the broken bat he used to hit-hit-hit a peculiar, but timely, double that helped lead the Giants to a win over the Cardinals in Game 7 of the NLCS on Monday night. We're talking about the bat that hit the ball a total of three times - once at impact then twice more while breaking - to drive in three runs and give the Giants a 5-0 third-inning lead. So Pence was a bit put out when he found out that the Giants sold it. Seems the bat was almost immediately sent to the team's game-used equipment store at AT & T Park.

THE PHILLIES have had a Shane Victorino Flyin' Hawaiian figurine day, complete with a lei, a Talkin' Harry doll night (for Harry Kalas) and Carlos Ruiz backpack giveaway. They even had a Scott Rolen T-shirt day, with then-manager Terry Francona keeping Rolen out of the lineup that afternoon. But it's safe to say Tuesday's bobblehead giveaway topped all of the past promotions. It came complete with a love letter from a long-lost pen pal. Three weeks after the Phillies traded popular rightfielder Hunter Pence to the San Francisco Giants, the promotions department went ahead with the already planned Hunter Pence bobblehead giveaway.

SAN FRANCISCO - If it wasn't for Hunter Pence, Cliff Lee may have very well shut out the San Francisco Giants on Monday night. In his first game against his former team, Pence tried to be a one-man wrecking ball in the Giants' lineup. He homered in his first at-bat and attempted to start a rally with an eighth-inning, leadoff double in his last at-bat. He went 3-for-3 and scored the only two runs San Francisco scored in a 6-2 defeat to the Phillies. "He looked good," manager Charlie Manuel said yesterday afternoon at AT&T Park.

How Shane Victorino and Hunter Pence have fared since the Phillies traded them away last month: Statistics through Sunday. G   AB   R   H   2B   3B   HR   RBI   SB   AVG   OBP    Shane Victorino, Dodgers 22   94   13   24   6   0   1   7   5   .255   .307 Hunter Pence, Giants 25   98   11   21   7   0   1   16   1   .214   .266 ...

SURE, HINDSIGHT is 20/20 (which is also what Roy Halladay's ERA would have been after a couple more starts), but we really could have done without Hunter Pence ripping three extra-base hits, including two homers, in the Giants' recent series against the Phillies in San Francisco. Look, we know that the business of baseball, more than anything, made the trades of rightfielder Pence and centerfielder Shane Victorino pretty much the only plays Ruben Amaro Jr. had as last season's trade deadline was approaching . . . and the Phillies' sixth consecutive playoff berth wasn't.

WYOMISSING - Whether this is lip service or the truth is to be determined sometime in March in Clearwater, Fla. But Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said yesterday that while he believes Domonic Brown would benefit from more sustained playing time in the minor leagues, Brown will have a chance to win the leftfield job away from John Mayberry Jr. this spring. "He could surprise all of us and come with guns a-blazing and win a job at the major league level this year out of spring training," Amaro said.

FORGET TWITTER followers and Facebook friends. In baseball, popularity is determined by jersey sales, and the Phillies are among the leaders. According to a list released by Major League Baseball, the Phillies had four players among the top 11 in jersey sales. The Yankees' Derek Jeter was first, followed by Cliff Lee at No. 2, Roy Halladay at No. 5, Hunter Pence at No. 9 and Chase Utley at No. 11. Pence played with Astros until late July, and his sales reflect jerseys sold from both teams.

SURE, HINDSIGHT is 20/20 (which is also what Roy Halladay's ERA would have been after a couple more starts), but we really could have done without Hunter Pence ripping three extra-base hits, including two homers, in the Giants' recent series against the Phillies in San Francisco. Look, we know that the business of baseball, more than anything, made the trades of rightfielder Pence and centerfielder Shane Victorino pretty much the only plays Ruben Amaro Jr. had as last season's trade deadline was approaching . . . and the Phillies' sixth consecutive playoff berth wasn't.

SAN FRANCISCO - The targets for Hunter Pence at AT&T Park are plentiful. There is the giant Coca-Cola bottle in left field and a body of water beyond the right-field wall. His batting-practice shows have traveled from Houston to Philadelphia and now here, where Pence swung with all his might Tuesday afternoon. Pence provided a show in his first game against his former team on Monday. He homered, doubled, and singled against Cliff Lee. His .847 OPS ranked second among the Giants entering Tuesday's game.

SAN FRANCISCO - If it wasn't for Hunter Pence, Cliff Lee may have very well shut out the San Francisco Giants on Monday night. In his first game against his former team, Pence tried to be a one-man wrecking ball in the Giants' lineup. He homered in his first at-bat and attempted to start a rally with an eighth-inning, leadoff double in his last at-bat. He went 3-for-3 and scored the only two runs San Francisco scored in a 6-2 defeat to the Phillies. "He looked good," manager Charlie Manuel said yesterday afternoon at AT&T Park.

Chicago White Sox pitcher and onetime Great Righthanded Hope for the Phils, Gavin Floyd, will have season-ending Tommy John surgery on his throwing elbow. He will likely miss 14 to 19 months. The fourth overall pick of 2001, who was hurt April 27, will have surgery on Tuesday. He went 0-4 with a 5.18 ERA this season.   Bailey's biceps trouble The Boston Red Sox placed closer Andrew Bailey on the disabled list due to right biceps inflammation. The former Paul VI star, who has five saves and a 1.46 ERA this season, received an MRI that revealed no structural damage.

Watching the Phillies through the first three weeks of the season was a challenging exercise. The parts put together by general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. did not work in unison much of the time. A couple of four-run leads disappeared during the first homestand and the offense disappeared shortly after that, scoring a Marlin-esque 13 runs in a recent seven-game stretch. Meanwhile, the Atlanta Braves sprinted out of the starting gate and placed the Phillies more than a week's worth of games behind them with school still in session for another two months.

At the end of his 2011 Arizona Fall League season with the Scottsdale Scorpions, Seth Rosin made a trade. He offered one of his San Francisco Giants T-shirts for a Phillies one. Seven Phillies minor-leaguers, including Jake Diekman, Darin Ruf, Tyson Gillies, and B.J. Rosenberg, had also played for the Scorpions that fall, so he figured he'd get another team's merchandise. Less than a year later, the shirt came in handy when the Giants traded Rosin, catcher Tommy Joseph, and outfielder Nate Schierholtz to the Phillies for Hunter Pence.

The recollection of playing on Phillies teams that galvanized Philadelphia still gives Ryan Madson chills. Nostalgia is a powerful elixir. Listening to former Phillies reminisce about nights at Citizens Bank Park offers a glimpse into what the kingdom was not long ago - and how it seemed to change so quickly. "What fueled us was the fact that in 2007 we kind of got to the playoffs and didn't go anywhere," Madson said from the Los Angeles Angels' spring training clubhouse in Tempe, Ariz.

Ozzie Guillen has been fired after one year as manager of the last-place Miami Marlins, whose promising season began to derail in April when his laudatory comments about Fidel Castro angered Cuban Americans, who make up a large segment of the Marlins' fans. The Marlins announced the firing Tuesday. They still owe Guillen $7.5 million for the three years remaining on his contract.   No bounces Bad bounces and stone-cold bats cost the Cardinals their last chance to return to the World Series, the team said after a 9-0 drubbing by San Francisco in the NLCS decider.

NOT SURPRISINGLY, Hunter Pence wanted to keep the broken bat he used to hit-hit-hit a peculiar, but timely, double that helped lead the Giants to a win over the Cardinals in Game 7 of the NLCS on Monday night. We're talking about the bat that hit the ball a total of three times - once at impact then twice more while breaking - to drive in three runs and give the Giants a 5-0 third-inning lead. So Pence was a bit put out when he found out that the Giants sold it. Seems the bat was almost immediately sent to the team's game-used equipment store at AT & T Park.

CINCINNATI - So many unusual things moved San Francisco to the verge of an unprecedented comeback Wednesday in its National League division series with Cincinnati. Angel Pagan connected on the second pitch of the game. A Giants team that finished last in home runs hit three. Tim Lincecum pitched like a two-time Cy Young Award winner - this time, out of the bullpen. Pagan hit the first leadoff homer in Giants postseason history, and Gregor Blanco and Pablo Sandoval delivered later for an 8-3 victory over the Reds to even their division series at two games apiece.