Today in Philly Sports History: Scott Rolen Homers Twice for the Second Straight Game, 1999

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"Scott Rolen is hotter than American Pie, hotter than Ricky Martin" penned Philadelphia Inquirer writer Sam Carchidi in his now mildly dated lead for the recap of the game the Phillies played against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on July 19th, 1999. In a 16-3 drubbing of the Phils' future WS rivals, Rolen went deep twice off pitcher Bryan Rekar, and doubled in a run as well to give him a total of four RBIs in his first three at-bats. It was the second time in as many games that Rolen had gone yard twice, and gave him a total of 24 for the year, including ten alone in the month of July. "I told you he'd got hot and carry us," said Phillies manager Terry Francona.

The win put the Phillies at 50-41, a solid record in a bad stretch for the Phils, though it was still only good for third place in the impressive NL East. Regrettably, Tito's comments would prove less than prophetic for the rest of the season. Rolen hit just two home runs total after that game, as injuries slowed him and eventually ended his season entirely in late August (although not before he struck out an impressive five times in a game against the San Diego Padres). The Phils would go only 27-44 for the rest of the season, the second worst record in the NL in that period, finishing with a solidly subpar 77-85. Meanwhile, Rolen's forever promising career would be full of tantalizing push-and-pull moments like this, until he was eventually dealt to the Cards in 2002--where he would go on to appear in four straight All-Star Games and win a World Series.

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