Hustle and be on time.

That day against the Reds, he broke the first one.

Yesterday, it seems, he broke the second.

Though Rollins said he followed his normal pregame routine in driving himself to the ballpark 10 minutes after the final team bus left the hotel, Manuel yanked him from the lineup when he arrived roughly an hour before yesterday's 3-1 loss to the Mets at Shea Stadium.

Rollins spent the first eight innings on the bench - replacement Eric Bruntlett went 3-for-4 while taking his place at shortstop - but grounded out in the ninth while pinch-hitting.

"We're not going to agree on this one," Rollins said. "I agreed with him last time but we're not going to agree on this one. I think he understood that and I understood it. But he's the manager, and he has to set a precedent and for certain players you are expected and held up to higher rules, and that's fine, that's part of it."

Manuel declined to discuss the benching in detail, but Rollins said he left the team hotel shortly after the final bus departed for Shea. The bus arrived at Shea around 10:30. Rollins was at his locker changing into his uniform around 11 a.m., about an hour before the 12:10 p.m. game.

The shortstop's name was already on the lineup card hanging in the visitors' clubhouse, but Manuel called him into his office and informed him that he would not be starting.

"Jimmy and I talked about it," Manuel said. "That's all I've got to say. It's kind of an in-house thing. That's between him and I."

Rollins faced some public criticism over the weekend when he went from first to third on a fly ball that dropped into leftfield in a loss to the Marlins. Rollins didn't appear to be going full speed from first to second before the ball dropped, and there was some thought that he could have scored if he had been running hard.

Yesterday, he said he understood that Manuel was likely holding him to a high standard because of his stature on the team - "That was 100 percent the decision," Rollins said - but said he did not feel singled out. He also said he would not brood and let it affect his play.

Manuel said Rollins was late one other time this year, when he was caught in traffic and called ahead to say he was running late.

Was he caught in traffic this time around?

"You could say traffic, but that doesn't really change anything," Rollins said.

Rollins entered the game with a 10-game hitting streak, which ended with his groundout in the ninth, and was hitting .289 over his past 18 games. His production has been down this season - he is hitting .269 with 42 runs scored, six home runs and 35 RBI - but is 25-for-25 in stolen-base attempts.

Rollins said yesterday's benching would not affect his psyche.

"It's already done," Rollins said. "Me and Charlie spoke about it, and it's done." *

For more Phillies coverage and opinion, read David Murphy's blog, High Cheese, at http://go.philly.com/highcheese.