The Giants would not have won three World Series in the last decade without unexpected moments from unexpected sources.
Juan Uribe’s first postseason home run in half a decade sent San Francisco to the 2010 World Series. Edgar Renteria, who only received the regular season MVP of any kind twice in his career, was the World Series MVP that year. . Barry Zito went from zero free agent to the playoff hero with a couple of influential performances on the mound in 2012. Travis Ishikawa hit an NLCS winning home run in 2014, six months after being designated for the assignment.
But only one instantly became an iconic villain for an opposing fan base.
Corey Seidman of NBC Sports of Philadelphia on Tuesday made the case that Cody Ross is the greatest villain in the history of the Philadelphia Phillies due to his winning performance of the 2010 NLCS MVP.
“In total, Ross hit .350 in the series, 7-for-20 with three doubles, three home runs and five RBIs,” Seidman wrote. “His Giants teammates hit a home run in 181 at-bats. Ross hit .950 in that series. His teammates hit .282.”
For reference, Ross slashed .288 / .354 / .466 with three home runs and seven RBIs in 33 regular-season games with the Giants. Ross also had more doubles, dinners, and RBIs in the NLCS than in the NLDS and World Series. set, while the outfielder hit .258 against Atlanta and the Texas Rangers that postseason.
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While Ross’ dominance at the plate caught the Phillies off guard, his power shouldn’t have. Ross hit more regular-season home runs against Philadelphia (14) than any other opponent and more diners at Phillies’ stadium (eight) than any other opponent’s home. He hit his three playoff home runs against the Phillies in Philadelphia.
Of course, two of those home runs were against the late Roy Halladay. Halladay had pitched a no-hitter in his only start in the NLDS, and Ross was only 3-for-16 in his career, with zero extra-base hits, at that point against the eventual Baseball Hall of Famer. Then Ross changed his focus.
“I had tried everything against this guy,” Ross recalled in an interview with Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle earlier this month. “I tried to hit him the other way, stay in the middle, hit the ball on the ground, to no avail. Finally I said, ‘I’m going to go up there and try to hit a home run and see what happens.’ Sure enough, first at bat! Wow! Home run! I’m running around the bases thinking, “Did that really happen?” I felt like I was running in the clouds. The next turn at bat, he threw the same pitch in almost the same spot and almost hit him in exactly the same spot. place. ”
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Those Phillies had won the World Series two years earlier and the pennant the year before. Philly has not made an NLCS since then, nor a postseason appearance since 2011. The 2010 and 2011 Phillies won the most and the fourth-most game in franchise history, respectively.
But weird things happen in the MLB postseason, and Ross’ performance at Ruth crystallizes that fact. However, that will not make him less hated in the City of Brotherly Love.
