Bobby Estalella and Odubel Herrera.

What do Estalella and Herrera have in common?

Two things.

• For one thing – Both broke into the big leagues with the Phillies.

• For another – Both were the only rookies in the 132-year history of the Phillies to get three hits in one game.

Bobby Estalella accomplished his feat in Stade Olympique (Olympic Stadium) against the Montreal Expos nearly eight years ago on September 4, 1997.

The Phillies – at 53-82 – were destined to finish in the basement of the NL East. The Expos – at 70-68 – were going to finish just one slot above the Phils. That day, it was Matt Beech (3-8) for the Phillies versus Pedro Martinez (16-6) for the Expos.

After Pedro held the Phils scoreless in the top of the first, Expos second-baseman Mike Lansing hit a solo shot in the bottom of the first to give the Expos a 1-0 lead.

With two outs in the top of the second, Bobby Estalella stepped to the plate. Estalella was a muscular catcher from Hialeah, Florida. A September call-up, he’d split the season between the Clearwater Threshers – where he hit 15 home runs in 117 games – and the Reading Phillies – where he hit another pair of homers in only ten games.

Bobby Estalella crushed Pedro’s first pitch down the left-field line. The ball had the distance from the get-go. But would it would stay fair? Or curve foul?

The ball stayed fair. It was Estalella’s third career homer – he’d hit two as a September call-up the previous year. Officially, he would not exceed his rookie limitations until the following season – so his rookie “season” ran over parts of three seasons.

The home run tied the score 1-1.

The Expos took a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the third when Vladimir Guerrero and David Segui went back-to-back against Beech – Guerrero’s homer coming with a runner on first.

Rico Brogna led off the Phillies fourth with a solo shot to right to pull the Phillies within 4-2.

That score held at 4-2 until the top of the sixth.

The Phillies pulled to within 4-3 when Tony Barron’s infield roller scored Greg Jeffries from third. Then up stepped Estalella for the third time. He’d struck out swinging in the fourth.

Martinez missed with three straight breaking balls. His fourth pitch to Estalella was a fast ball right down the middle. With nothing to lose for his last-place club, Terry Francona had given Estalella the green light.

Estalella sent the meatball on a towering ride into the stands in left to give the Phillies a 5-4 edge.

And that’s the way the game stood through eight innings when Anthony Telford replaced Martinez on the mound to start the ninth for the Expos. But that didn’t matter to Estalella.

After fouling off a pitch with a two-two count, Bobby Estalella drove a line drive into the stands in deep left to seal a 6-4 win for the Phils.

His three hits – all of them home runs – marked the first time a Phillies rookie had ever recorded three hits in a game.

Ricky Bottalico – now a mainstay for Phillies coverage on CSNPhilly – came on in the bottom of the ninth, closed out the Expos, and picked up his 27^th save of the season.

Bobby Estalella spent parts of nine seasons in the majors. After the Phillies, he played for the San Francisco Giants, New York Yankees, Colorado Rockies, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Toronto Blue Jays. Used mostly as a backup, his lifetime average was .216 with 48 home runs and 147 RBIs. His best season was in 2000 with the Giants when he hit 14 HRs and drove in 53 runs in 106 games.

Odubel Herrera’s feat was less dramatic than hitting three home runs.

Herrera got his first big league hit on April 11 against the Washington Nationals. Thus far, he’d been hit-less in eight at-bats.

He came to bat in the bottom of the ninth with the score tied 2-2, one out, and Carlos Ruiz on second. After falling behind oh-and-two in the count against Nationals reliever Tanner Roarke, Odubel grounded a walk-off double into right field to give the Phillies a 3-2 win.

While doing a post-game interview, Odubel was welcomed to the ball club with the traditional pie-in-the-face.

The historic feat happened four days later, on April 15.

Leading off against the Mets at Citi Field in New York, Odubel went 3-for-5. He was the lone bright spot in the Phillies 6-1 loss.

He tripled off Jon Niese to start the game, and he scored on Chase Utley’s one-out grounder to second.

Herrera took a strike-three called leading off the third.

But with one out in the fifth, he lined a shot down the line in left and legged it into a double. The Phillies loaded the bases, but he was left stranded on third.

Herrera led off the seventh with a double to right – his third hit – tying him with Bobby Estalella.

He led off the ninth with a chance to break the rookie record, but he bounced out to first.

So the rookie record was tied, but just three days later, he separated himself from Bobby Estalella.

On April 18, Odubel collected three hits against the Washington Nationals in a 5-3 win at Nationals Park in D.C.

First inning – Grounded out 6-3.

Third inning – Lined a one-out double to left off Jordan Zimmerman and scored on a single by Freddy Galvis.

Fifth inning – Drew a two-out walk against Jordan Zimmerman.

Seventh inning – Grounded a one-out single off Matt Thornton.

Ninth inning – Drove in Ben Revere with an insurance run when he singled to center against Blake Treinen with two outs.

That made him the first Phillies rookie to collect three hits in a game – twice.

Personally, I’ve been high on El Torito – as he’s called in his native Venezuela – since WIP’s Rickie Ricardo touted him to me during spring training. For more info, click El Torito Comes to Town – which I wrote about two weeks ago.

If he continues to play like this, his name will be mentioned all season long as a candidate for Rookie of the Year in the National League.

Yesterday, he doubled off Steven Strasburg in the eighth inning and scored the Phillies first run when Freddy Galvis followed with single. His average took a slight dip to .302 by going 1-for-4 in the 4-1 loss to the Nationals.

Barry Bowe is the author of Born to Be Wild, 1964 – The Year the Phillies Blew the Pennant, and 12 Best Eagles QBs.