PHILADELPHIA -- When Tommy Joseph got to first base in the sixth inning of the Phillies' 5-3 loss to the Marlins on Monday night, he was greeted with a standing ovation from 28,348 faithful at Citizens Bank Park.
It was seconds after he had ripped an 0-1 slider into center field for his first Major League hit. Phillies first-base coach Mickey Morandini assured the rookie first baseman that the applause were for him.
"It was a moment I'll never forget," Joseph said.
It was, however, short lived. The next batter, Freddy Galvis, grounded into a 6-4-3 double play and Joseph's hit was erased just like that.
If there was an upside to quickly getting off the basepaths, it was that Joseph almost immediately was able to get his eyes on the first-hit ball. Postgame, he put it next to his keys.
"So I don't forget it," he joked.
Joseph struck out in his next at-bat, but it came against right-hander Kyle Barraclough, emphasis on the right-hander. The player whose roster spot Joseph claimed, Darin Ruf, almost certainly would have been pulled in lieu of Ryan Howard for the more favorable lefty-righty matchup.
Manager Pete Mackanin said postgame he didn't want to burn Howard that early in the game, but he also stressed Joseph isn't strictly a platoon player.
"He's hit right-handers and left-handers in the Minor Leagues," Mackanin said. "So I didn't want to pre-judge what he was capable of doing. We've gotta find out about him."
Through the first month-plus of the Triple-A season, Joseph was hitting .367 (11-for-30) vs. lefties and .338 (22-for-65) vs. righties, with three home runs against each.