(Part 3 of a series recalling five of our favorite moments from the 2008 Phillies season.) BY SCOTT LAUBER
It wasn't an easy season for Jimmy Rollins.
Rollins, the 2007 NL MVP, badly sprained his left ankle in the season's eighth game April 8 in New York, went on the disabled list April 20 and didn't return until May 9. He was removed from a June 5 game against the Cincinnati Reds for not running out a pop fly, and he was benched July 24 for arriving an hour later than Charlie Manuel's mandated time before a 12:10 p.m. game at Shea Stadium. Then, during a trip to Los Angeles on Aug. 13, he appeared in-studio at the Best Damn Sports Show and called Phillies fans "front-runners." A day later, he apologized for his choice of words but called for fans to give off less "negative energy" and to offer unconditional positive reinforcement, whether the Phils are winning or losing. Upon returning to the Bank on Aug. 19, Rollins was booed loudly and fell into a miserable slump.
Needless to say, he wasn't going to win another MVP award.
But all was forgiven on Sept. 27 when Rollins impossibly started the double play that clinched the NL East championship. With the Phillies clinging to a 4-3 lead, the tying run on third base and Brad Lidge in jeopardy of blowing his first save, Rollins dove and knocked down Ryan Zimmerman's grounder up the middle. He gathered himself and flipped the ball to Chase Utley, who, gritting through what had to be searing pain in his right hip, pivoted and threw a strike to Ryan Howard.
It was the double play that saved the day.
6-4-3 never looked so good on your scoresheet.
"I wasn't impressed," Rollins said later, after seeing a replay of the double play. "You guys have seen me make that play plenty of times. I've made that play 100 times. It seemed bigger because of the situation. But it's not like I laid all the way out, flipped the ball behind my head, and, 'I can't believe he did that.'"
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