Philadelphia Phillies inspiring tale: Break up Phil Gosselin!
By Rick Soisson
There is a great story right now on the Philadelphia Phillies.
On a night when Philadelphia Phillies slugger Rhys Hoskins got back at a Mets pitcher who threw at him twice in a row the previous night, I wondered how many baseball fans recognized the real story of the Phillies 6-0 win Apr. 24. That is: Break up Phil Gosselin!
Yeah, yeah, Hoskins hit a mile-high two-run homer in the ninth to put the Phillies up 6-0 against that pitcher who threw at him – never to be named – but really, who was the actual hero?
Or, maybe, the .235 hitters’ hero?
No, dammit, the real hero! With the Phillies up 2-0 in the eighth inning, Gosselin lined a single to center field to drive in a run and make the score 3-0.
OK, maybe he’s the .235 hitters’ hero, but whatever. If there weren’t Phil Gosselins in the MLB world, there wouldn’t be guys like Warren Spahn, who won 363 games. Really, how would Warren have done against Willie Mays in several spots in a lineup?
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And as long as they hang around, guys like Gosselin, who has played for six teams in less than seven years, there is hope for all of us who struggle in any endeavor. The infielder-outfielder had driven in three runs already for the Phillies in Colorado on Apr. 20, providing the margin of victory in an 8-5 triumph. The well-traveled journeyman is having a journeyman’s dream spring – for the team he grew up rooting for. Gosselin followed the Phillies faithfully in his childhood in suburban Philadelphia.
Before coming to the Phillies, though, he had played more than 46 games in only one season, when he appeared in 122 for Arizona in 2016. That year he hit .277, giving credence to the journeyman’s motto: “If I only had the chance….”
Since that year, Gosselin has hit no higher than .150 for the Pirates, Rangers and Reds until this year, when his batting average has skyrocketed to .211.
Moreover, his RBI total has vaulted to four, his highest total since that big year in Arizona. And it’s only April.
None of this is meant sarcastically. Like anyone who makes it into major league baseball, Gosselin is a terrific baseball player. As a junior at the University of Virginia he hit .382 and set the single-season school record for hits. In the minors he had a .704 OPS figure. Or maybe that wording should be “has had” because Gosselin may well return to Triple-A this year, depending on circumstances. (He is 30 years old.)
There are a couple of stories here. One is about the practical as far as Gosselin is concerned. Whatever his ultimate place in baseball’s collective memory, he can always say he had 2018. Not his best year, statistically; that was ’16, right? In 2018, however, Gosselin made $1.25 million playing for Cincinnati.
The other story is more sentimental. On a night when the Phillies, his boyhood favorite team, needed a win, he was sent to the plate under a red cap to pinch-hit for a pitcher, and he lined a single through the middle to add to a narrow lead.
Next. The annual Jake Arrieta call out. dark
Right now, Phil Gosselin’s life is just about as good as it gets.