Charlie Manuel benches Jimmy Rollins as he appears sluggish while running – MLB News
The Philadelphia Phillies’ shortstop Jimmy Rollins has been benched on Thursday by the manager Charlie Manuel after he committed mistakes while running through the bases.
While Manuel has condoned his slackness in the last many weeks, on Thursday it was like the last of his patience was snapped.
Rollins popped out and instead of putting an effort toward reaching the base he seemed to be thinking the idea of running as useless on the assumption that the fielder was right under the ball.
The fact the catch was dropped exasperated Charlie because the shortstop could have reached the base if he had tried.
Manuel is a type of manager who hates the idea of lacking vigour while running and therefore he had told Rollins in advance before Thursday’s match that hustling is extremely important and that he will not compromise on it.
While Rollins struggles to reach bases at the earliest, his ability to strike massive hits cannot be doubted. He has hammered home-runs on a number of occasions in the season and that has helped the team win games from crucial situations. Therefore Manuel
will be facing a dilemma as he sets the line-up for the upcoming games about allowing Rollins opportunities on the plate.
So far Manuel has not confirmed as to whether Rollins will play the next game or not. Regardless of what the manager thinks, there is no denying in the fact that the Phillies cannot afford to see Rollins missing in the line-up for a long time period.
Meanwhile, Phillies’ first baseman Ryan Howard has supported the assertion of Manuel and believes that showing athleticism is important for a base-runner.
"You want guys to be able to go out and hustle," Ryan Howard said. "He knows better. He knows better. It's simple, be on time, hustle. That's it. That's two things that you can control. Go out there and do it. Charlie took care of it."
Even if sometimes a hitter does not connect well he cannot relinquish the idea of running toward the bases because anytime the fielders can make mistakes and therefore there is always an opportunity to score runs.
"My frustration grows any time I see anybody not hustle," Manuel said. "It grows if I see the other team not hustle."
As the Phillies head towards playing their upcoming games, it will be interesting to see how long Manuel keeps Rollins out of the action.
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