Posted on Sat, May. 10, 2008
SAN FRANCISCO - Jimmy Rollins looked fast yesterday as he moved through the visitors' clubhouse at AT&T Park.
"Not as fast as that guy," Rollins said.
That guy was Shane Victorino, who returned to the No. 2 spot in the Phillies' lineup last night against the San Francisco Giants. Victorino had hit leadoff as the Phillies waited to activate Rollins, who had gone on the 15-day disabled list April 20 with a sprained left ankle.
They activated Rollins yesterday, and for the first time since April 8, manager Charlie Manuel could write Rollins' name into the top spot on his lineup card.
"It's J-Roll Day," Manuel said. "J-Roll Day by the Bay."
So, is the ankle 100 percent?
"Is anything ever 100 percent?" Rollins said.
Not sure.
"Exactly," he said.
Can he play baseball on it? Rollins thinks so, otherwise he wouldn't be in the lineup. He stole a base earlier this week on a rehabilitation assignment in Clearwater, Fla. He turned double plays. He scored from first, which had been a big test. He slid on the ankle.
He got up each time.
"I'm ready," he said. "It doesn't bother me. There's always going to be some tenderness, just because there's bruising. But as far as the ligament, pushing off, I don't worry about that anymore. Every once in a while when I make a cut it's going to be, 'Ah, shoot, that hurts.' And then five seconds later, it's gone."
That's good for the Phillies. They need Rollins to be the force he has been at the top of their lineup in recent seasons. He won the National League MVP award last year, when he hit .296 with 38 doubles, 20 triples, 30 home runs, 94 RBIs, 41 stolen bases and 139 runs scored. Nobody has scored more runs in baseball from 2004 through 2007 than Rollins, who scored 500.
Rollins was hitting .308 with two homers and six RBIs before he went on the DL.
"I told him if he didn't get any hits, that Eric [Bruntlett] has been hitting the ball good," Manuel said, joking. "He said, 'Charlie, there are days when I don't get hits.' "
Manuel doesn't expect him to be at his offensive or defensive peak coming off the DL, but Rollins thinks he will adjust quickly.
"I think it's easier to come up and find your swing because you're concentrating," he said. "Down there, it's like spring training. You're going through the motions. It's more of seeing how you feel physically than worrying about results of your swing, because you don't really care about it. You're in a situation here where it's about winning, so your natural instincts come back, and you focus more because it means something."
Rollins is happy to be back, but he doesn't mind leaving the Spartan life of minor-league baseball.
It had its moments. In his first extended spring training game in Clearwater, a catcher in the New York Yankees' system didn't recognize Rollins.
"Man, they let you wear Rollins' jersey?" the catcher said.
"Yeah, they say I look like him," Rollins replied.
The umpire cracked up.
"I just went along with it," Rollins said. "When I came back to hit, they must have told him. They wore him out. After the game, he came up and said, 'Oh, man, I'm sorry. I didn't know that was really you. Can you sign this ball for me?'
"It was a lot of fun. But there's no glory down there. It's baseball and you go home. It's almost refreshing in a sense. You show up and play. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter if you're a first-rounder or a 99th-rounder, you're still there at 8:30 the next morning in the hot sun."
It's different in the big leagues. There is glory here.
Rollins hopes to find some more.
Contact staff writer Todd Zolecki at 215-854-4874 or tzolecki@phillynews.com. Read his blog at http://go.philly.com/phillieszone.
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