Gosselin’s season debut is dream game come true
He’s been receiving words, texts and emails of support for the past four weeks now, a solid reminder that Phil Gosselin is truly home this summer.
The West Chester native and Malvern Prep graduate, now 31 because time flies even faster when you’re on the professional sports bubble, has picked baseball’s weirdest season to quite possibly be his most memorable.
Gosselin, who had bounced around with six other organizations to gather minor and major league memories, finally signed with his hometown Phillies last season and wound up being promoted to the bigs and playing 44 games, mostly due to injuries. But he also made strong connections with the coaching staff, and even with a new manager in Joe Girardi, he made a solid spring case
and then an overwhelming “summer camp” case to stick around.
It went down to the final day before he was declared the 30th and last man on the Opening Day roster. But it took only until the second game for Girardi to award Gosselin a start, and the designated hitter reward his manager Saturday with a career day at the plate.
Gosselin homered twice, had three hits and three RBIs and was on base four times to lead the Phils to a 7-1 win over the Florida Marlins at essentially empty Citizens Bank Park.
But that’s OK, for Gosselin knows the seats would have been fairly filled with Malvern grads if it had been anything close to a normal late-July baseball day.
“It’s really cool,” Gosselin said. “People were reaching out to me throughout the ‘intrasquads’ when I was playing well, saying ‘Ah, you better make the team,’ which was funny. It’s been awesome. I’m just trying to soak it in.”
Gosselin took it to his fellow Phillies pitchers during the three-week summer re-training camp, hitting them to all parts of the park. It is believed he closed the camp by going 11 for his last 11. That opened everyone’s eyes to the guy who over his first 10 professional seasons managed to play in just 320 majorleague games.
“I think someone described it very well the other day in one of our intrasquads,” Girardi said of Gosselin. “They said he was 24 for his last 12. I think that’s as descriptive as you can be. I mean, a walk, three hits, obviously the two home runs, three RBIs ... he made me look really smart today, which I am very thankful for.”
From a hot and unlikely veteran who sort of reminds you of Chris Coste (remember him?), only a local version, that gratitude was quickly returned.
“It’s been awesome. I was hoping to make the team out of camp but knew it was going to be an uphill battle,” Gosselin said. “I’d really have to play well and force their hand a little bit. I was able to do that. And thankfully, Joe gave me a start here early on to keep it rolling.”
Noting he’s ridden enough benches to know utility guys don’t often see many at-bats early in a season, Gosselin added, “It was nice to get four today and help the team out.”
“We all love to see it,” said J.T. Realmuto, who helped out with a threerun bomb to center to essentially ice the game. “We call him ‘Barrels’ for a reason. That guy can hit. He’s always been able to hit. I’m glad to see him do it today and hopefully do it all season for us. He’s an allaround great guy. He’s really easy to root for. The whole team’s behind him. He knows that and we’re just glad to have him there.
“I can’t imagine the stress that he was under. I’m sure he was relieved to find out he made it and here he is, his first start, and he’s hitting two homers. I mean, that’s pretty huge for us.”
Despite receiving “300 or so” texts of support after his memorable game, Gosselin isn’t about to ride on the Game 2 glory. He’s been around and through too many small parks in the past decade to know better. But even at 31 he suspects that maybe dreams can come true after all.
“I don’t think I ever had a job guaranteed in spring training,” Gosselin said. “It’s my 11th year and I don’t think one time it’s ever been, ‘Hey, you’re on the team.’ It has always come down to the last few days. It’s just something you have to learn to live with, and you just try to play well and make the decision hard on them.
“You never know how long it’s going to last, never know if you’re going to play for your hometown team again. So I’m just enjoying every moment of it and trying to help the team make the playoffs. I watched all those World Series-caliber teams as a fan, so to be with the Phillies in the playoffs, that would be crazy.”