The Phillies 2011 campaign has come to an end as their offense goes scoreless in their final 17 innings of play. Their gifted starting roation was good enough to help lead them to a 102 win regular season, sadly the Phillies won only 2 additional games.
The playoffs were more disappointing then shocking, although up until the very end I thought they would find a way to win game 5. To me the critical loss for the Phils was game 2 when they got a 4 run lead with Cliff Lee on the mound. Lee couln't hold that lead (for only the 2nd time in his career) and the Hitters couldn't build on their early runs despite facing the Cardinals spotty bullpen.
I know there is still a lot of baseball going on out there, but right now I am mourning the end of a good Phillies Season, followed by a rather sad playoff ending. The end of the 2011 season could also be the ending of the Phillies portion of several players careers - including a couple that were on the 2008 World Series Champs.
2010 Phungo #11 Jimmy Rollins
Jimmy Rollins is the longest tenured athlete in Philadelphia. He has been playing shortstop for the Fightins since September of 2000. The 2007 NL MVP has played over 1600 games w/ the Phils accumulating 1866 hits. Rollins will turn 33 before the calendar year is out and is expected to want a long term contract when he hits the free agent market this winter.
He is maddening to watch sometimes, Offensively Rollins has not had the production he did earlier in his career. He does not get on base like a prototypical leadoff hitter, but when healthy he can steal bases if needed and he still has some pop.
I am of the opinion that the Phillies should move on without Rollins. The Phils are already locked into several long term deals with aging players and I am not sure that adding another one to the mix is the right thing for them to do right now.
Regardless, if Jimmy leaves, I will miss him and hope that he finds the right situation to be an impact in the league (as long as it ain't against the Phillies). If he stays, I hope it is at the right number and he can stay healthy enough to contribute to the Phillies future teams.
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