Posts
As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, Jimmy Rollins found himself on the bench for today’s series finale against the Muts at Shea. Apparently, Rollins rolled into the ballpark just a tad too late and Charlie decided the offense was enough to warrant some time on the pine. Surely, this isn’t where we want to see our MVP shortstop, but I guess rules are rules in the Charlie Manual clubhouse.
The reports state Rollins opted out of the team bus and drove his car to the game today. I just don’t understand the logic in this. Why wouldn’t you take the team bus for the short ride from the hotel to the game? It looks like Rollins’ decision to fly solo came back to bit him. This simple fact makes this story frustrating. The whole mess could have been avoided. The Phillies have enough to worry about now without Rollins stirring the pot.
Normally, this is probably a brush-off story. Player was late. Player was benched. The End. But, today’s incident marks Rollins’ second benching of the season and the latest chapter in an extremely strange 2008. Of course, Rollins’ numbers are way down compared to last year. That’s understandable though, considering last year was a standout, MVP year. He was bound to experience a letdown this season. Add to that though the incident on June 5th against Cincy when he was benched for not hustling down the line on a routine groundball. Then, just last week, Rollins found himself the focus of some ire on WIP for a lack of hustle in a base running blunder during the Florida series. Now, he shows up late to the ballpark in one of the bigger games of the season, thus far? Something just seems off with shortstop. Is he just completely disinterested with the season?
The Rollins story overshadows the Phillies loss to the Mets today. The loss drops the Phillies to second in the NL East. My frustration level continues to rise with this team. But, I’m not ready to toss it in just yet. After all, we do have a lot of baseball left to play. But I think what we’re seeing now may ultimately prove last year’s division win was the aberration and a pure stroke of luck. This team simply may not be good enough.
2 comments:
Im done with J-Roll, I mean 7 HRs??? 36 RBIs??? Your the frickin MVP!! We need a sweep of the Nats and we need Florida to sweep the Mets so we can get our heads out of our asses and get pumped up about this season again!! Oh and it wouldnt hurt to score a couple runs when our good pitchers are throwing!
Not sure if you are old enough to remember Ray Rhodes calling his guys out for doing the "Pro Bowl Glide", but J Roll has been gliding all year living off last year's laurels.
Post a Comment