Leave it to Shane Victorino to come through when we need it most, right?

The Wailuku native and St. Anthony grad helped island sports fans forget for at least a little while about the negativity of a so-far-winless football season for the University of Hawaii.

Some folks incorrectly refer to UH sports as "the only game in town." Sure, it’s the state’s most popular sports program (at least when things are going good), but giving it singular status is insulting to other teams, especially the small colleges.

And sometimes the BEST game in town isn’t even IN town. Saturday it was more than 5,000 miles away from Hawaii. It was at Fenway Park, where Victorino hit the biggest Game 6 homer in Red Sox history since Carlton Fisk in the 1975 World Series.

Maybe it’s because we are so far away from the mainland and the mainstream. Maybe it’s because many of us from here have been told in one way or another at one time or another we just weren’t good enough.

Whatever the reason, we take special pride in the success of a fellow Hawaii-grown person on the big stage, like Victorino’s grand slam that propelled the Red Sox into the World Series that starts Wednesday.

It’s also possibly historic for Hawaii in that we may now have the first Fall Classic with 808 representatives on both rosters — but as of Sunday it wasn’t decided if rookie second baseman Kolten Wong from the Big Island would be on the Cardinals roster, since Allen Craig is likely ready for reactivation.

THIS ISN’T the first time Victorino has shined in the spotlight. The 11-year MLB veteran is a two-time All-Star and helped the Phillies to a World Series championship in 2008 — when he also hit a grand slam in the playoffs.

At that time, my opinion was that he was very close to Sid Fernandez for status as the greatest baseball player ever to come out of Hawaii. While comparing pitchers and position players can be tricky, Victorino’s role with the Red Sox this season climaxed by Saturday’s slam clearly puts him over the top.

Up until the clout over the Green Monster, Victorino was known more for getting hit than getting hits in this postseason. In 10 games including four in the ALDS against the Rays, Victorino was plunked six times. He batted just .125 against the Tigers, including a botched sacrifice-bunt attempt two plate appearances before the bases-loaded homer.

To make things more improbable, the grand slam came on an 0-2 pitch from right-hander Jose Veras. Victorino used to be a switch-hitter but now bats right-handed almost exclusively because of injuries.

He connected on the curveball, it went over the fence, he flew around the bases and the Red Sox led 5-2.

Two innings later Boston is on its way to the World Series and Shane Victorino has Hawaii sports fans smiling with pride.

Again.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783 or on Twitter as @dave_reardon.