Shane slams Santana as Phillies romp

By Fred Guzman

MauiNow.com

For Shane Victorino, it was a familiar feeling with a familiar result.

In Game 2 of the 2008 National League division series, the Phillies center fielder hit a grand slam after pitcher Brett Myers worked a walk against Milwaukee’s CC Sabathia.

Yesterday, Mets’ ace Johan Santana improbably walked pitcher Jamie Moyer on a full count to load the bases. And Victorino struck again, slugging a grandslam homer to spark a nine-run outburst in the fourth inning as the Phillies crushed their arch-rivals 11-5.

It was Victorino’s fifth homer of the season and his second career grandslam. He’s now batting .243 with 22 RBI, which ranks him sixth in the NL.

Philadelphia won two of three games in the series, moving past the Mets into first place in the NL East.

Things aren’t going as well for Kurt Suzuki. For the first time since taking over as the Oakland’s starting catcher in 2007, Suzuki was placed on the 15-day disabled list after missing his five previous games with a strained muscle.

Suzuku is batting .254 with four homers — including three in his final four outings before becoming injured.

Rookie reliever Kanekoa Texeira worked two innings on Saturday in Seattle’s 6-3 loss to Texas, giving up four hits and a run. It was the right-hander’s sixth appearance of the season. He’s worked a total of 8.1 innings and has a 5.40 ERA.

STATE BASEBALL: The state Division-I baseball tournament returns to Iron Maehara Stadium for the first time in four years, and hometown Baldwin High is seeded third in the event, which begins a four-day run on Wednesday.

The MIL champions earned a first-round bye and will face the winner of Wednesday’s 11:30 a.m. tournament-opener between Campbell (17-6) and Moanalua in Thursday’s 7 p.m. quarterfinal game.

OIA champion Pearl City, with a 28-0-1 record, is the top seed. Saint Louis (26-4), which captured its first ILH title since 1989, is seeded second. Hilo (15-2) of the Big Island is seeded fourth in the 12-team field.

MIL runnerup Maui High (16-7), which needed a playoff victory over Kamehameha-Maui to earn the league’s second berth, will face ILH runnerup Mid-Pacific (22-7) in Wednesday’s featured 7 p.m. first-round game. Although unseeded, Mid-Pac is the state’s third-ranked team. The winner will meet Hilo at 11:30 am on Thursday.

The other first-round match-ups will feature OIA rivals Kaiser vs. Kailua at 2 o’clock and six-time defending champion Punahou (18-7-1) of the ILH vs. Mililani of the OIA at 4:30.

St. Anthony is seeded No. 2 in the eight-team D-II tournament, facing Konawaena in Thursday’s 2 p.m. game at Hans L’Orange Park in Waipahu. Radford is the top seed, with Waimea third and Maryknoll No 4.

Both tournaments run through Saturday night. Games involving MIL teams will be aired on Maui’s ESPN 550 and via the internet on ESPN550.com.

MORE PREPS: Four other state championships will be held this week. The boy’s and girls’ golf are scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday at Turtle Bay on Oahu. The MIL’s best hope to earn individual honors belongs to Baldwin’s Casey Isagawa, who won the league girls’ individual title by an astounding 44 strokes with a 1-under par 283. SH SO Alex Chiarella won the boy’s title. … Lahainaluna is the fourth seed in the water polo tournament that begins Wednesday at the Central Oahu Regional Park. The Lunas will draw an opening bye, facing the winner of Roosevelt-Kealakehe at 3:15 p.m. Thursday. …. Tennis will begin a three-day run on Thursday at the Keauhou Beach Resort in Kona … The judo championships will be held Saturday at the Stan Sheriff Center on the UH campus.

GOLF: Michelle Wie finished third in the Tres Marias LPGA event in Morelia, Mexico, two strokes off the pace. Wie earned more than $87,000 for her efforts.