Rollins returns as Phils prepare for series with Cardinals
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Rollins returns as Phils prepare for series with Cardinals
Bob Brookover, Inquirer Baseball Columnist
Shortstop Jimmy Rollins is hitting .216 this season with three RBIs. (Lenny Ignelzi/AP)
ST. LOUIS -- Jimmy Rollins was in the batting cage at Busch Stadium Thursday nearly five hours before game time.
After missing the previous three games to be with his wife Johari and newborn baby girl Camryn Drew, the Phillies' shortstop was reinstated from baseball's paternity leave list after Wednesday's win over the Washington Nationals. Catcher Erik Kratz, who had replaced Rollins on the roster, returned to triple-A Lehigh Valley.
Rollins was in a group of four taking extra hitting before the opening game of the Phillies' four-game series with the World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals. He was joined in the batting cage by Chase Utley, Shane Victorino and Juan Pierre.
Rollins will likely be back in the lineup against the 25-19 Cardinals, who have won three straight games and sit a half-game ahead of the Cincinnati in the National League Central.
The Cardinals, of course, erased the Phillies' World Series hopes a year ago by winning a five-game divisional series that ended with a 1-0 pitcher's duel between close friends Chris Carpenter and Roy Halladay at Citizens Bank Park.
This St. Louis team looks a lot different than that one with Albert Pujols now playing for the Los Angeles Angels and Carpenter and Lance Berkman on the disabled list.
Unlike the Phillies, however, the Cardinals have managed to overcome their losses in the early going, thanks in large part to the addition of Carlos Beltran (.292, 14 home runs and 37 RBIs), the continuing emergence of World Series MVP David Freese (.265, nine home runs and 31 RBIs) and the work of starting pitchers Lance Lynn, Kyle Lohse, Jake Westbrook and Jaime Garcia.
Lynn, 7-1 with a 2.54 ERA, is an early contender for National League rookie of the year, but the Phillies will not face him this weekend. They will face Westbrook (4-3, 2.41) Thursday night, Lohse (5-1, 2.91) Friday, Garcia (3-2, 3.55) Saturday and Adam Wainwright (3-5, 4.78) Sunday.
The Phillies will counter with Joe Blanton (4-4, 3.74) Thursday, Cliff Lee (0-2, 2.66) Friday, Kyle Kendrick (0-4, 5.23) Saturday and Halladay (4-4, 3.58) Sunday.
Comments (40)
In the if fishes were wishes department, imagine if the Phils had signed Beltran instead of resigning Jimmy? Then again, no one knew Galvis would be able to carry his weight as well as he has.— jklinger- i always knew that between galvis and valdez we would be fine by cutting loose the dead weight that is jimmy rollins.. ranted about it constantly during the free agent period and was yelled at by the fanboys on this forum.. still have a hard time understanding how amaro not only re-signed this turd, but saw fit to give him 3yrs 24 million... amaro has taken us back into the 90s with his incompetency.. monty wont care about amaro's performance as gm until you all stop delivering the consecutive sellouts.. — zwarte piet
- zp....I was agreeing with you, a leopard doesn't change his spots, he can't. You bring the same leadoff hitter back you get the same results....btw, it's $33 mil I think! — Mark1npt
- Kratzie, we hardly knew ya. JStroll, we know ya too well.— NewMick314
- Congratulations to the Rollins family on their new addition. Welcome back to the lineup to Jimmy. Dial it up Jimmy, and shut up all the boo-birds! Go Get "em Phillies!— billroc35
- That means Chooch is ok if they sent Kratz to LHV, right?— EL Zorro
- Like to see a little more of the SS Galvis and 2B Fontenet combo.— escapedcamden4monterey
at least JROLL didn't try to stretch his 3-game leave to 4 games. like it or not, under the CBA he was entitled to three games off
and his daughter was under 6 lbs i believe, so hopefully everything's ok there— barry m goldwater- Good. I really missed those sky high pop-ups and the soul city walk down to 1st base.— Wilhelm Von Humboldt
- .216 1 HR and 3 RBI back in the lineup!!!!!!! Championship!!!!!— FABER
I know the last months of my wife's pregnancies were stressful times in our lives. The birth of our first child even moreso. Hoping all is well with Jimmy's family and he comes back strong with a clear head.
Go Phils!— zubzub- should have kept Kratz over Schneider.— ESFjellin
- Hey escaped...if that's what you want to see, then move back to Camden and you'll see plenty of the same talent with "Riversharks" painted on their jerseys.— Astro Jones
- And maybe you should see yesterday's box score. — escapedcamden4monterey
- Maybe JStroll belongs inCamden — Ssteve115
- @klinger.....with all the grief everyone has given Amaro about this team getting older, I just don't think they ever seriously considered Beltran. Galvis has played himself into a staring spot because he has exceeded even their wildest hopes jumping from AA to the Majors with very little AAA ABs. They couldn't see that coming either.
NMick...excellent and to the painful point.— Mark1npt - JRoll and Polanco are no longer top of the lineup bats. They are defensive assets that need to be hitting at the bottom of the order. Rollins sixth, Polanco seventh, Freddie eighth would be the bottom of my order. Time to spend some luxury tax bucks Mr. Amaro...— 26Fan
- Kratz comes up, hits a HR, goes back down so useless non-major leaguer Schneider can retain his job..ths is typically how clueless rube makes roster decisions: ignore current performance but look at nunbers from 5 to 10 years ago...and that's why highest paid roster in league is also the worst— warbiscuit
- This comment has been deleted.— Quixote II
- --3 yrs/33mm to JROLL
--5yrs/125mm to 32 year-old ryan howard
--3 yrs/25mm to joe "bamm-bamm" blanton— barry m goldwater - There's a reason why Kratz is in the minors at the ripe age of 32.— palmyra21
- Barry m goldwater, actually he took 3 days off. They gave him Monday off, and then he took the paternity leave starting Tuesday.— EL Zorro
- Why would a team dying for stick send Kratz back down? In all seriousness (please, do not crucify me for this), I really believe the Phils ought to let Kratz play first base (I know, your jaw just dropped). The kid is 6'4" and is a a strong defensive catcher. He brings a strong bat to the lineup. By inserting him into first base, what are the Phils losing???? If nothing else he hits the ball solid and has bona fide power.
Now, fire Chris Wheeler and the dead rat glued to the top of his head. Wheels is the only guy in the organization who washes his hair with carpet cleaner instead of shampoo!!!— kelprod2 - Ok Kel. But only because you make me laugh.
I don't know about 1st base for Kratz, but I have always been a fan of carrying 3 catchers. Kratz and Schneider would give you a decent R/L combo off the bench, and Kratz has legitimate power. But if Kratz can play first then all the more reason to keep him. I don't know if he can. I think like ten games in the minors in the last 4 years. ??— zubzub - Stroll with the baby stroller!— wo_fat
- Awful lot of folks here who think the World Series is played on Memorial Day Weekend. As long as they're within 5 games of first and 2 from the wild card when Howard and Utley come back, they'll be fine.— drbob1
- plamyra, sometimes it's hard for an old player to get out of AAA. Wilson Valdez was lucky, the Phillies gave him a chance when the Mets released him and after being in the minors for a while. He even played in Korea. Now he's hitting under the Mendoza line. Brunlett and Coste were lucky also. The minute these two players left Philadelpha, they were out of the league. I won't be surprised if Valdez is out of the league next year. The reason Schneider stays is because he has a guaranteed contract of almost a million. Krazt is making lest than $200,000 a year. Three years ago, Miguel Cairo couldn't make the team. The Reds picked him up and he had two nice years with them.— EL Zorro
- Schneider is also hitting this year. His major league average is higher than Kratz's minor league average. I say that having been vocal in the offseason about not re-signing Schneider and using Kratz instead. But Schneider is signed now so just hope he keeps hitting.
Rollins has historically hit well against Westbrook and Wainwright so maybe he comes back and shows something.— s - Victorino (CF)
Polanco (3B)
Pence (RF)
Kratz (1B)
Ruiz (C)
Mayberry (LF)
Rollins (SS)
Galvis (2B)
P (probably the 2nd highest batting average in the lineup)
Please don't hate me too much. But I like this lineup. It cannot do any worse than what they have been doing.....even the rat glued to the top of Wheels head agrees.
— kelprod2 - It was only one game but I liked Pence/Ruiz at 3/4. I'd probably go with something like:
Victorino
Polanco
Pence
Ruiz
Wigginton/Luna
Mayberry
Rollins
Galvis
P
— s - The team didn't miss Rollins but now that he's back, there's always that hope that the old Jimmy might make a cameo before the season is over. That's the only benefit to getting him back. That's the fans' perspective. The team is glad to have the slick and swagger back and the quality of play is secondary to the show. Rollins reminds me of Obama with his all style, no substance persona.— AvoidSundanceVacations
- Todays line up is:
Rollins
Polanco
Pence
Ruiz
Victorino
Wigginton
Mayberry
Galvis
Blanton
— EL Zorro - Kratz, not Schneider? Ugh. . . Jimmy can't hit any worse, can he?
— Steve Jeltz - Pretty shameful that the Cards lost Pujols/Berkman/LaRusso (and others), have a $110M payroll and are in first place. For all the people have given Ruben a pass for Utley/Howard and his $175M payroll, give me a break.— Steve Jeltz
- Fat Joe gonna get slaughtered tonight, but watch, the Phillies will give him run support..........why is that! Havent see the lineup, but ill say the Phillies win 6-4. Joe will give up a few runs in the first few innings like he always does......you can take that to the bank!!!— huntnmike3666
- i had to take vacation days for the birth of my daughter in 2010. and i am still bitter about that.— bbewsirhc
Congrats on your new munchkin JRo. Now get your head screwed on right and play some ball!— verve- Rollins will do well tonight and for the rest of the season now that he's a dad, and if Manuel uses the same lineup format as he did last night, with Pence batting third, Ruiz fourth and Victorino fifth, the Phils should win. Rollins will obviously lead off. If Pierre is in the lineup, Manuel would do better hitting him toward the end of the batting order rather than second. But we'll see, what we'll see. i wonder what kind of cigars ne wmajor league dads pass out these days.— onthebucks
- If the Phillies lose tonight, it is on the manager. After Joe gave up three runs, you knew that he didn't have it. It took Joe giving up seven runs for Cholly to act. It is hard enough for this team to score runs! Joe is a mess. It was just a matter up time for the ERA to start heading and settling around 5.00!— dross
- When you OBP is solidly below 300, over 25% of the way through the season you should be hitting 8th. Alas Charlie has raisin size balls.— lazyboy
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The Phillies Zone is the place for up-to-the-minute Phillies coverage from the Inquirer.
Matt Gelb
Inquirer Staff Writer
Bob Brookover
Inquirer Baseball Columnist
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