ATLANTA ? It was about 4:15 Friday afternoon when Jimmy Rollins, in uniform, walked into Charlie Manuel?s office in the visiting clubhouse at Turner Field and closed the door behind him.
Ten minutes later, Manuel held the door as Rollins walked out. There was no blood, no broken bones, no chipped teeth. In fact, both men were smiling after they addressed Rollins? latest transgression and put it behind them.
?It was a good talk,? Rollins said. ?You break the rules, you get punished. Plain and simple.?
Rollins failed to run hard on an infield pop up in Thursday?s game against the Mets and Manuel pulled him from the game. The incident came two weeks after Rollins failed to run out a ground ball in Miami. Rollins was not pulled from that game, but was called into Manuel?s office and reprimanded the next day.
This time, Rollins initiated the meeting.
?He apologized,? Manuel said. ?He walked in and manned-up.?
Even before the meeting, Manuel had decided that Rollins would start Friday night?s game against the Atlanta Braves.
?I thought about sitting him,? Manuel said. ?But I can always sit him. I can do what I want because I?m the manager. I think we need him in our lineup because he?s a big part of our team. If it comes up again, I?ll do something about it.?
It?s not a stretch to believe it will come up again. Rollins is a repeat offender of Pete Rose?s Golden Rule and admitted that he knows he doesn?t hustle all the time. Sometimes, he said, it?s because of frustration. That, he said, was the case in Miami two weeks ago. Other times, he said, he doesn?t hustle for other reasons, such as confusion. Rollins said Thursday?s sin came moments after he had taken some swings in the batting cage during the game. He believed he had corrected a flaw in his swing, but when he went to the plate ? pop-up.
?It was confusion more than frustration,? he said. ?You?re in the cage and it?s going right, and then, 40 feet from the cage to the field, ?What happened??
?First, I didn?t get the run in [from third base]. Second, ?Damn, you were just in the cage working on that very thing and how do you do it again?? That was all that went through my mind.?
After Thursday?s game, Manuel said a lack of hustle shows disrespect to the game and all the people around it. Rollins? not running hard on Thursday appeared to be disrespectful of Manuel, especially because it came two weeks after Manuel had addressed a similar infraction with the 33-year-old shortstop.
?Reality and appearance are usually different,? Rollins said. ?It could have been (disrespectful) in the result, but that wasn?t my intent. My mindset wasn?t anything remotely close to that.?
Also Thursday, Manuel said a player?s failing to hustle reflects poorly on a team and an entire organization.
?If that?s how he feels, I?m not going to argue with that,? Rollins said. ?I?ve never been the manager where I?ve been responsible for players. Me personally, I don?t think it reflects on the manager or the team. It?s the player and that?s his issue. I don?t think it reflects poorly because usually something is done about it.?
Rollins has won an MVP award, three Gold Gloves and a World Series. He is the best shortstop in Phillies history. But lately, missteps of his own doing have, in some quarters, overshadowed his accomplishments. He was asked if he feared being remembered more for his lack of hustle than his successes.
?Not really,? he said. ?They?re isolated incidents. From my first year, it was always something. That?s the decision people will make.?
E-mail Jim Salisbury at jsalisbury@comcastsportsnet.com
Tags: Phillies, Jimmy Rollins, Charlie Manuel, Braves, Hustlev tech top model all stars americas next top model mark buehrle mark buehrle rick perry ad rick perry ad
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.