July 25 -- ROLLINS' RULES

Pretend, for a moment, that you're Charlie Manuel.

Jimmy Rollins, your MVP shortstop, showed up late for work yesterday for the second time in a few weeks. The last time it happened, Rollins called to tell you he was stuck in traffic. This time, no call. It's almost an hour before the rubber match of a huge three-game series against the Mets, and your leadoff hitter, one of the supposed example-setting leaders of your team, is AWOL.

You're ticked off, right?

Because your players are grown men, you have only two rules: Hustle and be on time. Rollins has now broken both in a seven-week span. Oh, and when he's on the field, he has been a shell of his MVP self, batting .269 with six home runs, 35 RBIs and 42 runs. Since June 13, as your mighty offense has floundered, Rollins' on-base percentage is .322 and his OPS is .734.

So, when he finally arrives, you call him into your office and do the only thing a manager can do in this situation. You bench him. You take him out of the starting lineup and replace him with Eric Bruntlett. Confident that you have the backing of your players (Manuel does), you hope that the move will embarrass Rollins, will motivate him, will snap him out of whatever mental funk he has been in since winning the MVP last November. Is there a chance you could lose Rollins completely? Sure. But if he keeps playing/behaving like this, you aren't going to make the playoffs anyway.

That, in a nutshell, was what happened at Shea Stadium yesterday.

This wasn't an isolated incident. It has been building over time. But it's pretty straightforward. Manuel has been trying to get through to Rollins, and perhaps benching him in the biggest game of the season to date will do the trick.

So, I'll go back to this. Pretend you're Charlie Manuel. What would you have done?

***
Oh yeah, the Phillies lost yesterday and fell out of first place for the first time since May 31. They had led the NL East for 52 consecutive days, their longest stretch since 2001 when they led for 78 days in a row until June 26 and then not again. Once again, they couldn't hit Mets starter Oliver Perez, who has a 0.35 ERA in four starts against the Phillies and a 5.74 ERA in 17 starts against everyone else. The Phils are 4-9 against the Mets this season after going 12-6 against them last year, including seven straight wins to end the season.

What gives?

"I think something's not in tune," Manuel said after the Phillies slid to 15-22 since June 8. "We need to pick it up. I don't know if it's [not being] hungry enough. I just haven't put my finger on it. We've got to get after it more. I don't know how to explain it."

***
Chase Utley was 0-for-12 against the Mets and is hitless in his last 14 at-bats. But Utley insists he's healthy, and Manuel said he'd put his money on Utley snapping out of this slump.

Also, within the notebook, the Phillies weren't happy with Jose Reyes' home-run celebration Wednesday night. Hmmm. I wonder how other teams feel about Ryan Howard admiring his homers or J.C. Romero windmilling his arm every time he strikes somebody out?