Shane Victorino

LOS ANGELES - The best player in the 2008 National League playoffs hit two home runs, including a grand slam; drove in 11 runs, a club record; and, in baseball's ultimate sign of respect, was intentionally walked twice in the most important game of the year. Manny Ramirez? As if. Try Shane Victorino. The Phillies' 5-foot-9, 180-pound centerfielder got the slugger treatment twice last night, drawing intentional walks for only the fifth and sixth time in his major-league career.

IF RYAN HOWARD is Mr. September and Carlos Ruiz is Senor Octobre , Shane Victorino deserves a playoff nickname, too. Victorino's cagey at-bats and baserunning in the first and second innings yesterday chased Reds starter Edinson Volquez, gave Roy Halladay a lead and framed the righthander's no-hitter. It also made Victorino the Phillies' postseason hits leader. His 35 are two better than Mike Schmidt's career total, and Victorino did it in 33 games, three fewer than Schmidt.

The all-star centerfielder had made a promise to renovate the rundown Boys and Girls Club, near a gas station and a struggling high school, into a place of dreams and pride. Standing outside its doors Thursday, under the threat of gray clouds, the Phillies' own Shane Victorino, dressed plainly in a white shirt and jeans, with leis around his neck, stood on a makeshift stage, lowered his head, and wiped away tears. The newly renovated club in Nicetown, which now bears his name and his promise, had officially reopened.

AS WE wrote in Thursday's Daily News, the Phillies face a fascinating conundrum with their situation in centerfield . They have money to spend, and they have an obvious place to spend it. But they do not have limitless money. And they have enough needs outside of centerfield that paying B.J. Upton $75 million over 5 years might not have been the wisest move. Especially since there are plenty of potentially cheaper options. But when you look at those potentially cheaper options, you can't ignore the following batting line from the 2012 season: .255 batting average, .321 on base percentage, .383 slugging percentage, 11 home runs, 39-for-45 on stolen bases.

DENVER - For the second consecutive game, Shane Victorino served as an offensive trigger with an extra-base hit in the opening inning. Victorino had gone 98 plate appearances and 89 at-bats before hitting a one-out double in the first inning of Saturday night's 8-5 victory over the Colorado Rockies. That was his first extra-base hit since June 13 in Minnesota, a remarkably long stretch for a player with his speed. He added an RBI triple in the ninth inning of that game. Victorino returned to work Sunday by setting the tone again with a one-out triple off lefthander Drew Pomeranz before scoring on a two-out single by Carlos Ruiz in what became a 5-1 Phillies victory in the series finale at Coors Field.

The all-star centerfielder had made a promise to renovate the rundown Boys and Girls Club, near a gas station and a struggling high school, into a place of dreams and pride. Standing outside its doors Thursday, under the threat of gray clouds, the Phillies' own Shane Victorino, dressed plainly in a white shirt and jeans, with leis around his neck, stood on a makeshift stage, lowered his head, and wiped away tears. The newly renovated club in Nicetown, which now bears his name and his promise, had officially reopened.

Shane Victorino strolled into a playroom at the Nicetown building that bears his name Friday and spoke to about 50 children. He told them to study hard, listen to their parents, and then asked if there were any questions. "What team do you play for?" one boy said. Victorino grinned. "Unfortunately," he said, "I don't play for the Phillies anymore. I play for the Boston Red Sox now. " This was a "bittersweet" day, Victorino said. He returned to Philadelphia for the one-year anniversary celebration of the Shane Victorino Nicetown Boys & Girls Club - a building his wife, Melissa, and he helped renovate with a $900,000 donation.

Yesterday afternoon, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel was asked if he would consider moving Shane Victorino down in the batting order. The team's No.2 hitter had a .323 on-base percentage, after all, and the Phils were not scoring enough runs. But Manuel shook his head and said no, Victorino would resolve his issues and did not need a demotion. Less than six hours later, the centerfielder hit his first career regular-season grand slam in the ninth inning, giving the Phillies their first lead of the night and redeeming a previously listless game.

An inning after a "Ja-son Pri-die" chant broke out Sunday at Citizens Bank Park, Pridie stood on second base, having ripped a one-hopper off the wall in right-center field. The 28-year-old Phillie clapped his hands below his knees, sending dirt flying off his batting gloves. Pridie wasn't supposed to play in Sunday afternoon's game against Atlanta. But he filled in valiantly for Shane Victorino, going 2 for 3 with a home run and the double, driving in all three Phillies runs.

WASHINGTON – It is hard to walk into the Phillies' clubhouse at Nationals Park without thinking of Harry Kalas. It is where most of the Phillies' traveling party got the news in April of 2009 that the club's beloved broadcaster had collapsed in the press box before a game, and it was from behind its closed doors that club president David Montgomery later emerged to tell reporters, "We lost our voice today. " This is not that, obviously. It is brought up not as a comparison, but instead as part sign of affection and part milepost on a continuum.

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 - 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.

NEW YORK - Last July, the Phillies shed Shane Victorino and Hunter Pence in two deadline deals and sought austerity in the outfield. They are paying their five outfielders a total of $3.4 million in 2013, and until Saturday's 9-4 romp over the Mets, the production matched the price. It dragged an offense carried by contributions from its veteran infield. Phillies outfielders ranked 29th in baseball with a .562 OPS before Saturday. They hit three home runs in the season's first 24 games, which tied for the fewest in the majors.

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.

The Phillies' season is only 18 days and 16 games old, which is a point most likely to be made by people who have some incentive to remind us it's early. People like Ruben Amaro Jr. "We've played 15 games," the general manager said before Thursday's 4-3 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals at Citizens Bank Park, when they left the potential tying and winning runs in scoring position to end the game. "It's 15 games," Amaro repeated. "Somebody said we still have 90 percent of the season left.

LEFTHANDER GIO Gonzalez homered, providing all the offense necessary to back his six scoreless innings, and the Washington Nationals beat the visiting Miami Marlins, 3-0, Wednesday night. Gonzalez (1-0), a 21-game winner in 2012 who finished third in NL Cy Young Award voting, allowed only two hits, along with five strikeouts and two walks. His solo shot to leftfield off Kevin Slowey (0-1) came with one out in the fifth. Slowey gave up one run and four hits in 5 1/3 innings. Nationals leftfielder Bryce Harper, who hit two home runs in the opener, went 2-for-4 with a double.

THE STORM CLOUDS gathered early last March. Ryan Howard was fielding ground balls on a stool. Chase Utley was conspicuously absent from Grapefruit League games. Roy Halladay's velocity was down. The Phillies had no obvious leftfielder, no veteran setup man, and an aging third baseman who had struggled to stay on the field the previous season. The fan base was understandably nervous. My answer to all who asked: It wouldn't surprise me if this team won 100 games, and it wouldn't surprise me if it lost 80. This year, the answer is the same, minus the 100 wins part.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - As exit strategies go, the one the Phillies executed Thursday from their spring training home was far from perfect. It was, however, preferable to the one they carried out of here a year ago. "I feel much better because we've got [Chase] Utley and [Ryan] Howard," Charlie Manuel said before his team's final Grapefruit League game, against the Toronto Blue Jays at Bright House Field. After the manager spoke, the Phillies watched another jagged pitching performance from Roy Halladay, the two-time Cy Young Award winner who entered and exited spring training as the biggest question mark in the starting rotation.

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.