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Rollins reaches milestone, Phils rejuvenate offense at Giants expense
By Daniel Dullum July 15, 2006 |
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SAN FRANCISCO- It was Fellowship Day at AT&T Park Saturday, and at the end of a long afternoon, it appeared that the San Francisco Giants could have used some divine intervention. Instead, it was a banner day for Bay Area natives wearing the opposition colors. Jimmy Rollins, from Alameda, couldn’t have planned it any better – approaching a personal milestone just as his Philadelphia Phillies were coming to San Francisco for their first weekend series following the All-Star break. With plenty of family and friends present among the sellout crowd of 41,401, Rollins smacked a seventh-inning triple for career hit No. 1,000, one of many Phillies offensive highlights in a 14-6 rout of the Giants. “Actually, I was just looking at the number of hits I had coming into the season, and I figured it out,” Rollins explained. “I wish it would have happened a while ago because I’d be on base more and getting some things done, but it’s not bad to have it happen here at home. This is where I started my streak last year, and now I get my 1,000th hit. Rollins singled in the third inning and tripled in the seventh, getting his 1,000th hit as a Phillie at age 27 years, 230 days, the youngest Phillie to do that since Greg Luzinski got his 1,000th hit on June 12, 1978 at age 27 years, 202 days. Rollins also needs 10 stolen bases to reach 200 for his career. The speedy second baseman estimated that he had “around 22” ticket requests for the game. “My mom actually came down before my first hit and said, ‘Are you going to use that bat, boy?” She was telling me to put that bat to use,” Rollins said, smiling. “Her and my dad came down there [by the dugout], they must have gotten some special treatment or something!” In a baseball schedule, players have a limited amount of time to savor and enjoy a great individual moment. As for post-game celebratory plans, Rollins said they were made for him – by his mother. “I’m going to the house,” Rollins explained. “My dad is gonna grill. My mom wanted him to grill, and she basically told me I had no choice! I’m cool. We’re gonna grill? That’s OK!” What was really cooking was the Phillies offense, which was underperforming in the first half of the season. Coming into the game, Philadelphia was 15th in National League hitting (.256), eighth in runs scored (423) and last in total hits (774). Rollins helped spark a long-awaited 18-hit attack as the 14 runs was a season-high for the Phils. “Hopefully, this is a trend that will continue,” Rollins said. “I’m not saying we can pound out 18 hits every day, but scoring runs and putting a team away when we have a chance. We’re going to play better ball in the second half, that’s for sure. “We’ve had games where we’ve been in and we miss a play, or one pitch changed the game,” he continued. “Today, when we had enough that when we did mess up a play, we were so far ahead that it didn’t hurt us.” Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said of Rollins’ milestone, “That’s good. It shows a mark of his career and where he’s at his age, and he’s got a chance to be a very successful player.” The real eye-popper of the day was Ryan Howard’s titanic blast to right-center field, a majestic 460-foot shot off Giants reliever Brad Hennessey which struck halfway up the brick wall in the deepest part of the yard. It was the Phillie first baseman’s 30th home run of the year and his second after winning the 2006 Home Run Derby at the All-Star festivities in Pittsburgh. “That was stupid!” Rollins joked. “Everybody was going over to congratulate him, and I said, ‘No, no.’ Everybody can cheer, but we’re gonna ice him because that was ridiculous. If it just went over center field, you just say, ‘Yeah, you got the job done.’ But when you hit it that far, it’s like everybody should still be mesmerized when he comes back in! That was a home run derby-type of home run that you don’t usually see in a game.” Howard took it all in stride, saying, “It’s just one of those things where you get that pitch and it just kind of took off. I just caught it the right way. I think the wind was kind of playing tricks, because the flags were blowing straight out. But when you’re standing in the dugout, the wind was blowing straight in from left. So it might have been like a swirling wind.” The 26-year-old slugger likes hitting at AT&T Park, noting, “It’s a great ballpark. The hitting eye is really good. The park plays really big here, especially in right-center field where it’s 421.” There’s no real secret to Howard’s power game – he simply tries to make solid contact and let the home runs come naturally. “You try not to get over-anxious, and try to swing too hard at times,” Howard said. “It’s just to meet the ball and trust yourself and let the rest take care of itself.” Pat Burrell, a product of Bellarmine Prep in San Jose, led off the second inning with his 20th home run of the season. Burrell has specialized in tormenting Giants pitching of late, hitting .418 (23-for-55) with four home runs and 14 RBI in his last 16 games against San Francisco. Those totals include a three-RBI double in the fourth inning that broke the game open. “[Burrell] is staying on the ball better, staying on the ball longer, and he’s hitting some balls to the middle of the field and to right field,” Manuel said of Burrell’s recent tear. “His double to center with the bases loaded, he hit straight through the ball, it was real good.” Cory Lidle, the former Oakland Athletic, went 5 2/3 innings to get the win. He gave up four earned runs, but got Barry Bonds to fly out to center field with two out and the bases loaded in the second inning, snuffing out a Giants rally. “I fell behind him, trying to be a little too careful,” Lidle said. “But I just told myself that I didn’t want to give [Bonds] an inside pitch that he could pull. If he could was going to hurt me, I wanted him to go to the opposite field. The down-and-away pitch, right now, is the place to go [against Bonds].” All that, and Chase Utley extended his hitting streak to 17 games with a single and a double. Understandably, there was an air of optimism in the Phillies clubhouse after ringing up an 18-hit attack. “If we get more consistent, especially with guys on base, offensively everything is going to work out for us,” Manuel said. “We don’t have a lot of speed, but we’ve got guys who have hit the ball in the past, and should hit the ball. Everthing has to be consistent – our hitting, our pitching and our defense.” Lidle added, “We stil have a great team on paper. What we did in the first half is done. We’ve got [Jon] Lieber back healthy, Randy Wolf will be back soon, so everything’s looking like it’s going to be falling into place for us.” Meanwhile, in the Giants camp, Manager Felipe Alou simply stated, “It was a losing game, bad game – 14-6. I don’t think we have time to discuss the whole thing.” The allegations of income tax evasion, lying to a federal grand jury and use of performance-enhancing drugs facing Barry Bonds isn’t high on Alou’s list of conversation topics, either, as the old skipper is gradually losing patience with the perpetually sore subject. The ups-and-downs of navigating a .500 team, it seems, is beginning to take a toll on Alou, and the Giants. Speaking of Bonds, he stole a base for the second consecutive game, the first time he’s done that since June 21-22, 2003, at Oakland. His first inning theft of second base preceded Moises Alou’s 11th home run of the season. Beyond that, highlights were few and far between for the home team. But in baseball, there’s always a tomorrow when you’re 2 ½ games out of first place in a weak division like the NL West. DIAMOND DUST: ... Going into Saturday’s game, the Giants starting pitchers lead the NL with a 4.15 ERA, trailing only Detroit (3.47) and the Los Angeles Angels (4.05) of the AL. ... Giants closer Armando Benitez is 5-for-5 in save opportunities over San Francisco's last nine games. ... Giants SS Omar Vizquel ranks second among NL shortstops with a .377 on-base percentage and is fourth with a .299 batting average. ... Giants 2B Ray Durham is hitting .318 with 9 home runs and 24 RBI over his last 25 games. ... According to Elias Sports Bureau, Phillies 1B Ryan Howard set a major league record when he hit his 25th homer in Philadelphia's 71st game of the season, the fewest games needed for a player to reach the 25 home run mark in his second season. On this day in Giants history: In 1973, Willie McCovey became the 15th player to reach 400 home runs with two homers in a 12-0 rout of Pittsburgh in the first game of a doubleheader. McCovey's blasts backed Juan Marichal, who threw a four-hitter for his 52nd -- and last -- career shutout. |
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