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- Phillies-Yankees World Series Game 2 Reactions
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- Blanton will start Game Four
- Ratings: Phils slip in Game 2
- Opposites attract, like Rollins and Manuel
- Phils' bullpen outing a relief, if not enough
- Back in left field, Ibanez has big night
- Howard and Rodriguez not exactly cleaning up
- Loss doesn't faze the Phillies faithful
- Ed Barkowitz: Phillies manager Manuel feeling relaxed in World Series return
- Phillies Notebook: Phillies' Stairs gets role he was made for: DH
Video: Inquirer's Bob Ford debates the Series- More World Series coverage from the Inquirer and Daily News
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Opposites attract, like Rollins and Manuel
NEW YORK - Jimmy Rollins loves this stuff. He loves the spotlight of the World Series and the forum that allows him to have fun.
He likes telling the Mets that the Phillies are the team to beat and he likes going on Jay Leno and predicting the Phils will win the World Series.
You'd think Charlie Manuel, as old school as the peanut vendor and stadium organ, might find his shortstop's boasting problematic. You'd be wrong.
"I think [he's] generating something for himself," the manager said. "I think that he likes it. I think he likes it if things are not going the way he wants it or he's kind of getting bored, or whatever. He wants to find some way to get his motor running. He wants to find some way to pump himself up or get something going. I think it's very good."
It's funny what winning will do. Remember, in 2006, when Manuel pleaded with Rollins to become a more selective leadoff hitter? Only to realize that Rollins' game was better left untouched. Or Rollins' tardiness for a 2008 game at the Mets that led to a brief benching? These guys don't agree on everything, except for their mutual respect.
So maybe Rollins was trying to get himself going with his Leno appearance on the eve of this World Series. He's only 1-for-6 through the first two games, but he's walked three times, scored a pair of runs and turned a smart doubleplay in Game 1.
Rollins loves the Big Apple, and the city loves him back. Still, he was unimpressed with the hostility of the crowds in these first two games. The Yankees evened the series with a 3-1 win last night that featured home runs by Hideki Matsui and Mark Teixeira.
"Our ballpark is so loud and rowdy," he said. "I was really expecting that here, but it was very tame and civilized. You only heard big cheers on the home runs, other than that [nothing]. Those are expensive tickets. They're [pricing] the loud fans out."
Another jab by Rollins, who is as different from his manager as his perception of the atmospheres of the two ballparks hosting this series. Rollins is style and bling from Oakland, and Manuel is homespun good sense from West Virginia.
The banter they share on the bench might not interest Plato or Aristotle, but Manuel enjoys it nonetheless.
"I love to talk to him," Manuel said, "because I'll tell you something, we have some really . . . I wouldn't call them real smart conversations, but we have some good conversations."
