Victorino's perfect response

Monday, October 13, 2008 | Feedback | Print Entry

Shane Victorino didn't charge the mound. He didn't start wagging a threatening finger at Hiroki Kuroda and didn't scream and wait for 10 players to come between himself and the pitcher before pushing forward like a phony, as if he really intended to fight. He didn't throw a punch at the Dodger closest to him, Russell Martin.

In fact, his response was perfect, and perfectly in line with his personality.

He knew it was coming. All the Phillies had to know it was coming. The scouting report on Manny Ramirez is that you should buzz him, make him uncomfortable in the box, and in Game 2, Brett Myers knocked down Martin and then threw a fastball behind Ramirez.  
 

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  • Buster Olney Buster Olney

    Buster Olney is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine. He began covering baseball in 1989, as the Nashville Banner's beat reporter assigned to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. Later, he covered the San Diego Padres (1993-94), the Baltimore Orioles ('95-96), the New York Mets ('97) and the Yankees ('98-2001). Olney joined ESPN The Magazine in 2003, after six years at The New York Times, and he's the author of the Times' best-seller "The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty," a book about the Paul O'Neill-Tino Martinez Yankees dynasty of 1996-01.

    He grew up in central Vermont collecting baseball cards and listening to Red Sox, Expos, Phillies and Pirates radio broadcasts, and was a rabid fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He graduated from Vanderbilt University the same year as hoops legend Will Perdue, and ranks among the all-time leading scorers in pickup basketball at Memorial Gym. He claims to have witnessed the Commodores' winning football season in 1982 (although anthropologists have not yet confirmed this).

    Olney also contributes to ESPN.com, ESPN Radio, ESPNEWS, "SportsCenter" and "Baseball Tonight."

    Follow Buster on Twitter: @Buster_ESPN

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