PHILADELPHIA — No, Aaron Rowand doesn’t necessarily need to watch replays of the play that forever secured his place in Phillies lore. His grip on the memory of May 11, 2006, is about as tight as on the baseball while running headlong into the W.B.
Mason sign at Citizens Bank Park. Much from that day sticks with Rowand 18 years later. In the third season of the Phillies’ ballpark, Rowand knew what was at stake when the Mets’ Xavier Nady skied a ball to deep center with the bases loaded and two out in first inning.
He’d even told Phillies starting pitcher Gavin Floyd as much before. “He threw the heck out of it every game, but he always had one big inning,” Rowand recalled Sunday. “It was a four-spot or a six.
And then it was zeroes. I was talking to him in batting practice that day in the outfield ..
. and before that game, I remember telling him, man you’ve got to stay away from that one inning. .
.. “I remember thinking, if I catch this ball, we’re going to win this game.
” The Phillies did, 2-0, in a rain-shortened five innings. Rowand was in the clubhouse for most of it, his face bashed and bloody after the collision 400 feet from home plate. In that moment — and in Rowand’s unintentional refutation of Ricky Watters’ infamous, “For who? For what?” faux pas of effort — Rowand set the blueprint for that decade’s two pennants and 2008 World Championship.
Even if his stay in Philadelphia was limited to 270 games and one All-Star nod, Rowand still rooted for the Phillies in 2008 from his couch as a San Francisco Giant, his third stop in 11 years in the bigs. “It was the team camaraderie and accountability that we had that made that group good,” he said. “Unfortunately, I didn’t get to be here with you to celebrate in ’08.
But that group, I was watching it on TV and I was in tears, thinking to myself, I’m so happy for these guys, because I have bled with them. I’ve gone through spring training. I’ve gone through all these things with these guys, and they deserve this.
” Rowand was one of the slew of former Phils returning for Saturday’s Wall of Fame induction of late team President David Montgomery. This year’s festivities also feted 20 years since Citizens Bank Park opened in 2004. It included the first players to homer in the ballpark: Jim Thome, in an exhibition series against Cleveland, and Bobby Abreu, in the April 12 opener.
Mike Lieberthal and Jimmy Rollins, who played in that first game, were represented, as was pitcher Ryan Madson. “It doesn’t seem like it’s 20 years old,” Rollins said. “You walk into the ballpark and it’s actually even more beautiful today than it was then.
We had it when it was, for lack of a better term, naked. We got here before the planters got here, before the ivy got here in center field.” Rowand was one of those who most enjoyed the weekend.
A California native, he doesn’t get East much. But CBP “holds a special place in my heart,” and he hailed former skipper Charlie Manuel as “a father figure.” He knows what it took to build a winner, even if he left by the time the winning occurred.
He sees it in the current group, too, where Rollins offers a direct lesson. “I text Bryce (Harper) here and there, Trea (Turner) the same,” Rollins said. “I tell them, I’m sure they’re tired of hearing about the ’08 team.
Yes, we were here when this ballpark started. We created an atmosphere, and I’m glad that you guys got to reignite that atmosphere. But I’m sure you’re tired of hearing about the ’08 team the way we were tired of hearing about the ’80 team.
So change that narrative.” • • • Both Harper and J.T.
Realmuto got days off in Sunday’s 6-4 loss to Washington, as had been manager Rob Thomson’s plan. They get two days off with the idle day Monday before a trip to Atlanta and Kansas City. Realmuto had played five straight days, his longest stretch since returning from right knee surgery on July 20.
Washington’s three straight left-handed starting pitchers kept him in the lineup. Harper has been in a bit of a rut, with just two homers, a .237 batting average and a .
382 slugging percentage in his last 19 games. “I think just timing is off a little bit, and that’s usually what it is with him,” Thomson said. “Then he starts overswinging at times.
He’s in a little bit of a bad habit, so I think that a couple of days off will help him.” • • • Zack Wheeler will start Tuesday in Atlanta, with Aaron Nola Wednesday and TBD Thursday. It could be Cristopher Sanchez or a bullpen game.
Both starters will be on regular rest, though the rotation will skip what had been Tyler Phillips’ turn. Phillips was demoted Saturday for an extra bullpen arm. Wheeler threw six innings and 96 mostly low-pressure pitches Thursday in a 13-3 win.
Nola was pushed to 111 pitches the next night in 6.2 innings. Both told Thomson they’re good to eschew the extra day.
Sanchez is coming off a complete game Saturday, tossing 97 pitches. The Phillies have nine bullpen arms for next week. Tyler Gilbert could head a bullpen game.
• • • Jose Alvarado pitched a solid seventh, working around a leadoff infield single by CJ Abrams. But for the third straight outing, he struck out no one. The last time he did that was May 21-25, 2022.
He was optioned to Triple-A two days later. That was 158 mostly excellent big-league appearances ago, regular season and playoffs. Alvarado was third in baseball in 2023 (among pitchers to throw at least 20 innings) in strikeouts/9 innings at 13.
9. That figure has fallen 8.7 this year.
• • • Austin Hays (hamstring) is on track for a rehab assignment Tuesday in Lehigh Valley if he reports no issues Monday. He could get a couple of games in the minors before rejoining the team in Kansas City. Ranger Suarez (back) is also on track for a return in that set, which starts Friday.
• • • NOTES >> With a first-inning single, Alec Bohm extended his on-base streak to 35 games, tying Chase Utley for the longest streak by a Phillies infielder since 2006. ..
. The Phillies went 4-2 on the homestand against the Marlins and Nationals, the losses started by Taijuan Walker. Walker went 4.
2 innings, exiting after a home run by Alex Call in the fifth. Both Call’s solo homer and a two-run shot by Keibert Ruiz, on an 0-2 delivery, were on pitches outside the strike zone. .
.. Bryson Stott and Brandon Marsh hit back-to-back home runs in the sixth inning.
The long ball is Marsh’s first since July 29. Stott hadn’t homered since Aug. 4.
...
Jeff Hoffman allowed two home runs in the first four months of the season. He’s allowed three in August, with a James Wood bomb in the ninth inning. He’s allowed six runs in 6.
2 inning in August..
