J-Roll – The Straw that Stirs the Phillies

Well if there was any doubt, this weekend proved that one of the main problems with the Phillies through the month of June was Jimmy Rollins. In fact, the case could be made that he is one of the reasons the Phillies seem to be suffering a bit of a championship hangover this season. He came into this weekend hitting .212, not exactly what you want out of your leadoff hitter.

Fortunately for the fightin’ Phils, the rest of the NL East has been in a bit of a funk as well, especially as they went through inter-league play against the AL East. As a result, the Phillies were still barely holding onto first place in the NL East.

Charlie Manuel had tried a number of things to get Jimmy Rollins going again – from dropping him to sixth in the lineup and even giving him an occasional day off. Most recently, he gave J-Roll off for four games. Initially, it didn’t seem to work as he came out and promptly went 0 for 8 in his first two games back. But then he showed some life in the last game in Atlanta Thursday night as he went 2 for 4.

Going into the weekend series against the Mets, I was anxious to see how the Phillies would respond to coming home after a dreadful stretch which ended with them getting swept by the Braves in Atlanta. They also entered the weekend tied with the Marlins for first place. As I tuned in Friday night, I was especially interested in how the Phillies started off as I thought that would show whether they understood the urgency of the moment. Sure enough, after new pitcher Rodrigo Lopez put the Mets down 1-2-3 in the top of the first, Jimmy Rollins lead off the game for the Phils with a double. That lead to a 3 run first inning and the Phillies cruised to a 7-2 victory over their rivals.

However, it was just a preview of Jimmy Rollins’ weekend. During the series against the Mets, J-Roll went 5 for 11 (AVG of .455) with 2 runs scored, 5 RBIs and 3 walks for an OBP of .571. Perhaps more importantly, he only struck out once the whole weekend. When Jimmy is getting on base, the Phillies just win. I know that the common wisdom is that the critical hitters for the Phillies are Chase Utley and Ryan Howard, but those hitters do not get RBI opportunities if the guys in front of them are not getting on base. If you want more proof, consider this: as I write this, Jimmy Rollins lead off tonight’s game with a walk and that started a huge 10 run first inning in which he also hit a double, drove in a run and scored two runs (all in the first inning).

All this to say, it’s no surprise to me that the Phillies seem to be turning around just as Jimmy Rollins seems to be turning his season around as well, because as Jimmy goes, so go the Phillies.