WILFREDO LEE / Associated Press
Another strong outing by J.A. Happ gave the Phillies their eighth win in a row. Happ pitched seven innings, allowing five hits and no runs. He walked one and struck out four to improve to 7-0 with a 2.68 ERA.
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Happ, Rollins lead Phillies
MIAMI - Jimmy Rollins had just about as much time as possible to think about accomplishing one of the rarest of baseball feats - hitting for the cycle.
He began by getting the hardest part out of the way in the Phillies' season-high eighth straight win - a methodical 5-0 whitewash of the Florida Marlins yesterday at steamy Land Shark Stadium - by hammering a triple in the first inning.
By the time he assumed his position at shortstop in the bottom of the third, Rollins had added a single and a double, so the baserunning mistake he made when he was thrown out at home in the first had become a bit more palatable.
Whether the temperamental leadoff hitter was trying too hard to complete the cycle with a homer in one of his later at-bats likely will never be known because he once again declined to share his thoughts with the media.
But Rollins' silence is not the issue. It's safe to assume that Phillies fans would rather watch him torment opponents than talk about it. And when the leadoff hitter's juices are flowing, his teammates feel the electricity.
"He makes things happen," said Raul Ibanez, who drove home Rollins and Shane Victorino with a double in a three-run second inning, which was more than enough for J.A. Happ, as the rookie lefthander ran his record to 7-0 with another hard-nosed performance.
"When he gets on base and makes things happen, it's definitely a different offense," Ibanez said. "He can do so many things offensively and defensively, and when he does things offensively, we're an extremely different club."
It's no coincidence that the Phillies are 12-1, holding a 6 1/2-game lead in the NL East, since Rollins stopped imitating Mario Mendoza and began playing like the guy who was MVP two years ago.
In those 13 games, Rollins batted .389 (21 for 54) and scored 13 runs with a .484 on-base percentage. Since ending his 0-for-28 drought July 2, Rollins has raised his batting average from .205 to .236 and his on-base percentage from .250 to .290. The Phillies are 36-8 when he has scored a run.
"We always say when he's getting on, scoring runs, that he's the guy who sets the table for us and lets us win," manager Charlie Manuel said. "We always say how important he is to us. But when he's got a low on-base percentage and not hitting, I don't want to hear about getting him out of the leadoff role, which I don't do anyway."
Rollins, 30, has a history of hitting better during the second half of the season - a career .265 in the first 81 games and .287 in the second 81 games. So this is nothing new. Still, his hard times through April, May and June were so dramatic, it was reasonable to suspect his best years were behind him.
By no means was Rollins the whole show. Happ continued to be the club's top starter the last six times through the rotation. A candidate for NL rookie of the year - if he doesn't get traded to Toronto in a deal for Roy Halladay - Happ has a 1.67 earned-run average through his last six starts.
His calm resolve was most evident in the sixth inning when the Marlins had the bases loaded and nobody out. The inning should have been easy for Happ, but Pedro Feliz booted a double-play grounder, the second error of the game for the usually sure-handed third baseman.
Nonetheless, Happ again displayed his calm resolve by getting Ronny Paulino on a pop to short and striking out the next two hitters with a steady diet of sneaky fastballs. Unlike too many pitchers, Happ has this novel idea that good things usually happen when you throw strikes.
"When he gets out of it, it shows he keeps his composure, and that's how you learn to be a pretty good pitcher," Manuel said. "When he does things like that, it's going to build his confidence and show him the pitcher he can be."
Happ began the season in the bullpen and wasn't thrilled about it, but he refused to yield, pitching well as a reliever before he bumped Chan Ho Park out of the rotation. He is 5-0 as a starter.
Again, Rollins wasn't the whole show. He just opened it with a triple and closed it with a flamboyant snatch of a pop-up, and the Phillies J-Rolled on home with a firm grip on the division lead.
Contact staff writer Ray Parrillo
at 215-854-2743 or rparrillo@phillynews.com.
