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Revere nears a Phillies rarity - 50 steals

SAN DIEGO - Ben Revere figured it was a trick question. He scanned the Phillies clubhouse Thursday afternoon at Petco Park and looked for the team's last 50-base stealer. He glanced at Jimmy Rollins' locker. Nope, Rollins stole 47 in 2008. But the answer was somewhere in the room.

Philadelphia Phillies' Ben Revere runs the bases during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2014, in Philadelphia. The Phillies won 2-1. (Chris Szagola/AP)
Philadelphia Phillies' Ben Revere runs the bases during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2014, in Philadelphia. The Phillies won 2-1. (Chris Szagola/AP)Read more

SAN DIEGO - Ben Revere figured it was a trick question. He scanned the Phillies clubhouse Thursday afternoon at Petco Park and looked for the team's last 50-base stealer. He glanced at Jimmy Rollins' locker. Nope, Rollins stole 47 in 2008. But the answer was somewhere in the room.

"Who's that?" Revere asked.

Juan Samuel, now the team's first-base coach, stole 53 bases in 1985. (Revere, 26, was born in 1988.) Every major-league team has had at least one player with 50 steals since then. The Phillies have the longest drought, one that Revere could end with three more steals before the season ends.

"Wow," Revere said.

It is a feat accomplished just three times by two Phillies players since 1900. Samuel stole 72 bases in 1984 before his 53 in 1985. Sherry Magee stole 55 bases for the 1906 Phillies. A few Phillies - including Sliding Billy Hamilton - reached 50 steals in the 19th century, but the game was far different then.

Revere, though, noted how the attitude toward stolen bases has changed in recent seasons. The decline in run production across baseball puts a premium on runners in scoring position. The Padres, for example, scored the one run they got Wednesday against Cole Hamels with a single up the middle, a stolen base, and another single.

Dee Gordon, Billy Hamilton, and Jose Altuve have already notched 50 steals this season. There were two players with 50 stolen bases from 2011 to '13.

"It was all about the long ball, pretty much," Revere said. "Now the game's changed. Get the guy in scoring position. Stolen bases. Now we can get back to that. The fundamentals of the game come into play. That's a good part about it. That's why it's good to have somebody like that at the top of the lineup who can get on base, steal bases, and be in scoring position easy."

Revere's flaws - his lack of extra-base hits and suspect defense in center - are difficult to ignore. He has offered league-average production from the leadoff spot. And while Ryne Sandberg stopped short of guaranteeing Revere a starting job next season, the Phillies manager noted progress.

"I can say that he's made very good strides in different parts of his game," Sandberg said. "I think he's really improved his stolen-base capability, a little bit more aggressive. Maybe there were times this year where he could have been more aggressive, but he's really been able to steal bases.

"I think overall he's made improvement, which goes a long way with him being an everyday centerfielder."

Revere has picked his spots to ensure an 86.8 percent success rate in steals. But his occasional lack of aggression on the bases cost him a shot at 60 stolen bases, a plateau Sandberg believes he can reach.

"That's the next step," Sandberg said.

A single and a steal is not the same as a double. Revere has matched his career high with 13 doubles in 2014. Sandberg wants improvement there.

"I actually think that he has the ability to hit 30 to 35 to 40 doubles with the way that he makes contact," Sandberg said. "He's strong. We see it all season long in batting practice; there is no reason that shouldn't translate into games and certain situations with certain pitchers. It might be a little bit of a mind-set change. He tries to hit it on the ground, and he really tries to work it up the middle, which I think is the approach that he has probably been told for a number of years."

For now, 50 stolen bases is the motivation.

"That's pretty amazing," Revere said when informed of the team's drought. Marlon Byrd, seated nearby, jabbed Revere.

"Hey," Byrd said, "I have 50 for my career."

Revere grinned.