During this particular weekend, the Phillies battled it out with their divisional rivals,the New York Mets. In Friday night’s first game of the series, the Mets clobbered the Phils, 9-1. In the fifth inning of that game, Philadelphia’s centerfielder, Shane Victorino,failed to run out a dropped third strike by the Mets catcher. That’s the kind of lackluster hustle that kills a team and was so very unlike the gritty "Flyin’ Hawaiian’s" (Victorino’s nickname) normal attitude.
After the game, he apologized to the fans and his teammates for his lack of hustle and said it wouldn’t happen again. The following night he hit a three run homer to help blank the Mets 10-0, and in the last game of the series, he hit a grand slam home run as the Phillies took two of three games from the Mets and climbed back into first place of the division.
We can learn from how Victorino took responsibility for his mistake, forgave himself and moved on.
How often do we make excuses for our mistakes, rationalizing away our behavior with one justification or another? Victorino could have made the excuse that he would have been out anyway or that they were out of the game so it didn’t matter. But he didn’t. Instead, he admitted he was wrong.
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