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It was about an hour before game time last night at Citizens Bank Park, Rollins' first home game since calling Philadelphia fans "front-runners" in a TV interview last week. Carson Book, one of the guys who writes the blog, "We Should Be GM's," was attempting to create attention the low-tech way, with a handmade sign written on orange poster board. He said it was going well.
"I've only had a couple of people say 'boo' back to me," he said. "Everybody else has been very supportive."
What admittedly began as an attempt at sarcasm - "It still hurts a little that he used the word 'front-runners,' '' Book said - had evolved into what he said was a sincere attempt to get fans at the ballpark to be more positive. Other blogs joined in, including "Crashburn Alley" and "Hugging Harold Reynolds." To what end, they did not know.
"I want to drown out the boo-birds tonight," Book said. "That's what I want to do."
Outside, he and Mandy handed out their flyers. Inside, Rollins taped a pregame television spot and then talked to reporters in the dugout, taking back none of his comments, saying that booing hurt some players and also discouraged potential free agents considering the Phillies. He said he was neither apologizing nor regretting. "No, not at all," he said.
The test would come later, when Rollins took the field. It was what everyone anticipated, the answer to the question: What hath J-Roll wrought?
As it turned out, not so much. Or, rather, not nearly so much as to justify all of the attention this business has received in the last week.
And how do you plead, Mr. Columnist?
Guilty as charged, your honor.
Anyway, when the lineups were announced, there was a mix of cheers and boos. When Rollins took the field on defense, there was almost no reaction. When he successfully fielded a ground ball in the first inning, there were some boos. When he came to the plate in the bottom of the first, there was a loud mixture of cheers and boos.
As the night wore on it got worse. When Rollins grounded into a rally-killing doubleplay at the end of the fifth inning, it was pretty bad. In the eighth, he hit a deep line drive to rightfield. They cheered when he hit it, booed when the ball was caught. In all, he went 0-4 and the whole thing was as predictable as the sunset (though not nearly as attractive).
"You had some cheers, you had some boos, I guess," Rollins said after the game. "That's what I said it was pretty much going to be. Again, like I said, if we get the win, they'll be cheering."
It was all kind of cartoonish, a faux morality play. It did nothing to alter the ongoing reality - that the people here boo and that the players here don't like it.
Someone asked Rollins if he was defending Ryan Howard - who was sitting next to him on the television show - when he made the comments. Rollins said, "I was speaking for a lot of guys. I wasn't just speaking for Ryan. Ryan's had his share. I've had my share. Pat [Burrell] has had his share. I think Chase [Utley] hasn't been touched . . . and hopefully it remains that way."
Rollins talked about watching some teammates get booed as they are announced before an at-bat and how "they're halfway defeated before they get up there." He also talked about potential free agents on other teams and what they have said to him:
"A lot of times, and I've actually heard it, they don't want to put their family and kids in a situation where they come to the field and these are the types of things their kids are going to have to sit through and listen to. That's just the truth. Those aren't my words. Those are words that I've actually heard."
So, there. Of course, money talks the loudest of all for free agents, louder than any boos, and we all know that, too. But the issue remains and will remain, past tonight, despite "Campaign: Cheer!" and despite everything.
"It didn't work out as good as I hoped," Carson Book would say later from his seat in Section 419. "But it could have been worse, in my opinion. I saw people standing up for J-Roll. I heard some claps, even though it's pretty hard to hear way up here.
"I'm glad I did it. I'm still hoping it catches on some more. I mean, who knows?"
But the truth is, nothing said or done in the last week has changed anything. The tension between the paying customers and the hired help still exists. It will continue to play itself out in big ways like last night with Jimmy Rollins and in quieter moments, too - like the story one Phillies player told people, about how he was parking his car at the ballpark in the middle of the afternoon yesterday and some guy started yelling at him that he was overpaid. *
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