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Shane Victorino to throw out first pitch before NLDS Game 3

Shane Victorino was a member of the 2008 World Series champion Phillies. (Mark Goldman/Icon Sportswire)

As postseason baseball returns to South Philadelphia for the first time since 2011, a fan favorite from the greatest era of Phillies baseball will get the party started at Citizens Bank Park.

Former All-Star outfielder Shane Victorino will throw out the ceremonial first pitch ahead of Game 3 of the National League Division Series with the Phillies and Atlanta Braves knotted 1-1, according to multiple reports.

Victorino played eight seasons in Philadelphia and was the team’s everyday center fielder as it won four consecutive NL East division titles from 2007-2011 and the 2008 World Series championship.

No stranger to the postseason spotlight, Victorino provided one of the key highlights in the Phillies’ 2008 playoff run as he clubbed his first career grand slam off Milwaukee Brewers ace CC Sabathia in Game 2 of the NLDS. Five years later, he hit the second postseason grand slam of his career as a member of the Boston Red Sox, hitting a go-ahead shot over the Fenway Park’s Green Monster in Game 6 of the 2013 American League Championship Series; Victorino won his second World Series ring with the Red Sox that season.

A starter in the last postseason game played at Citizens Bank Park — a 1-0 heartbreaker against the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 5 of the 2011 NLDS — Victorino will be there to pass the torch to the new generation of Phillies playoff performers. And “The Flyin’ Hawaiian” will certainly bring the energy to start things off.