Heels On The Field: A Baseball Blog

Phillies, Yankees: Tops At Short In Their Own Way

There are a number of exciting variables about the Yankees Phillies World Series, but when you look at the middle of the infield, behold the skill.

Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins and Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter may have decidedly different personalities, but they are a show unto themselves.

Their role on their teams is also very defined, though Jeter stands as the designated captain. Still, it's no secret that the Phillies is Rollins team, his status not only due to his being a farm grown Phillie, but also for his ability to rile the teammates and the masses.

Not every player wants to put themselves out there in the media the way Rollins will. His fearless proclamations have angered or inspired a roll of the eyes, but you have to appreciate his confidence. If the Phillies were "the team to beat", he must've known it. Or at least he wanted to believe it and hoped his teammates did, too.

Rollins appears to be the flashier player. Has Jeter been more celebrated because of the uniform? Perhaps. But that shouldn't be a problem for any baseball fan when the fact is, the teams he helped lead to the World Series three years in a row were the best in the game. He made his name doing extraordinary things in October and November, when players must be better than they have all season. He proved his ability in high pressure situations early on. Rollins didn't get that chance until 2007.

As the all-time hits leader at his position, it's hard to argue who the better hitting shortstop is. 

But Jeter's defensive abilities have been a major debate for years. No one questions Rollins skill level at short. Jeter's range has been questioned, to the point that the University of Pennsylvania released a study finding him to be the worst defensive player in baseball. In 2009 he finished the regular season with a .985 fielding percentage. And in an interesting statistic created by John Dewan, Jeter was first in "Revised Zone Rating." The stat counts how many times a player gets a ball into his zone and converts it to an out.

Rollins in comparison, finished with an only slightly better fielding percentage of .990. In his 10 year career he has an overall fielding percentage of .983. Jeter? In fifteen years, he's posted a fielding percentage of .976.

Some glaring differences exist, though. Rollins has made just 41 career throwing errors, while Jeter has made 99. Still, it's a difficult comparison, considering Jeter has played five years longer. But with a 99 career total in errors, Rollins trumps Jeter who has made 213 overall errors thus far. As an aside, Barry Larkin made 235 in his nineteen year career.

Jeter may not be the best defensive shortstop, but he's the best hitting shortstop and that's the meat, the stuff fans sink their teeth into. It's why he's the leader of his ball club. It's why he's "Mr. November." 

Rollins has stood firm in his leadership. He's never backed down. Also the stuff of leaders. He's a five-tool player, with 20 bases stolen in every season of his career since 2001. In 2003 he hit 42 doubles. He broke a franchise record in 2005, when he went on a 36-game hitting streak, breaking Ed Delahanty's 1899 record.

What it all boils down to is October and November. Jeter has been there. A lot. Rollins has now been there, and been all the way, and he has another chance to prove his abilities in the Fall Classic.

Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriquez was asked about both men and he put it like this:

“...Two Hall of Fame shortstops, and two great leaders.”

There can be no debating that statement. (Oh, go ahead if you must...)

FUNNY FACT: Did you know that Rollins statement in 2007 about being "The Team To Beat" in the NLE, was followed by, "But, that's only on paper"?

Both Rollins and Jeter were named Rookie of The Year: Jeter in 1997, Rollins in 2001

Rollins is a three-time All Star, while Jeter has been voted in ten times.

Phillies And Yankees Fans Taste Their Destiny And Their Pasts

And so they meet again.

After 59 years.

The Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees will face each other in the ultimate east coast Fall Classic.

If you're a passionate baseball fan, this is a contest for the ages. Inevitably ugliness will rear it's head. This is not a World Series for the faint of heart, the weak in the stomach, the half-interested fan. This is a series for two of the most notorious and fiery fan bases in sports. 

These are fans with different complexions, different complexities. They each have their identities.

The Yankees fight to get their glory back, while the Phillies keep the all-time losers history at a safe, but still too close of a distance. Both clubs have something specific to tell their fans and the message has to be clear.

Yankees fans: We're back.

Phillies fans: We ain't going back.

It's not just about baseball, but the very rich history in both cities, in sports, and in general.

Philadelphia may be the birthplace of freedom, but New York knows it's the birthplace of nearly everything cool and exciting.

Devotion to sports isn't just about the sport itself, but how it defines families, neighborhoods and childhood memories. When I think of key moments as a baseball fan, I recall where I was and who I was with. You might have had a difficult relationship with a parent or sibling, but sports was where you bonded. Or maybe the friends you made for life, were made through a shared passion for a team. 

The identity of Phillies fans and Yankees fans is tied up in the identity of the cities and the lifestyle.

No athlete cares to live in the past, but fans stay mired in it and forever influenced by it, down to their core.

The identity of a Yankees fan has always been tied to it's past: Gehrig and DiMaggio, Ruth and Berra.

For Phillies fans this goes a bit different: 10,000 losses notched, 1964, Joe Carter...then there's 1980, Tug, Pete, Schmidty. And, well, last year.

Fans don't want to live in the past either, but they live there because it becomes part of who they are. The losses aren't about a career, but a direct line to their hearts. The heart doesn't forget. They don't switch uniforms. They live and die with that team.

The Pinstripes Series arrives and so do fans who know who they are and, also, who they want to be.

You aren't just going to be watching a World Series, but two cities with their hearts on the line.

2009 NLCS: The Wolf Pack Speaks Volumes About Phillies Fans

When a favorite player goes to a new team, he stops being a favorite player.

But in the case of Dodgers pitcher Randy Wolf and his Philadelphia fan club, the Wolf Pack, it's a lot trickier.

In Game 4 of the NLCS, Randy Wolf's faithful friends were the very definition of class and dedication.

The Dodgers originally drafted Wolf in 1994, but he didn't sign with them. The Phillies drafted him in 1997. Wolf pitched for the Phillies his entire career until the Dodgers signed "Wolfie" as a Free Agent. The Wolf Pack includes brothers Patrick and John Wood. Along the way Wolf's former and current teammate Vicente Padilla's "Padilla Flotilla" also became part of the Phillies vernacular. Wolf became friends with the pack and formed a bond with his devotees. They were Philly guys, proud and passionate. Randy Wolf, while never an emotional sort, embraced the experience.

When he left, the Wolf Pack didn't stop being Randy Wolf fans, but they were first and foremost Phillies fans.

Monday night their loyalties were tested.

"Not until the game started did we realize there would be some mixed emotions," Patrick told Mike Jensen of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

While one Los Angeles Times writer called Phillies fans ugly, Tommy Lasorda expresses hate for a green furry monster and says his hometown is Los Angeles (Norristown , PA, actually), and legions of Phillies fans feel trashed by TBS and FOX announcers, the Wolf Pack walked the line and took no side easily. They faced a tough situation emotionally. Their team was in the contest. Their friend was the opposition.

While no one can agree if Phillies fans are lowly losers or mistreated champions, it's undeniable that the Wolf Pack are the kind of baseball fans a player doesn't attract everyday. And players don't form friendships with fans very often. Wolf, however, made sure that the Wolf Pack had tickets to Game 4.

Randy Wolf and his pack get a tip of the cap.

And hopefully from those with a P and an LA on it.

2009 ALCS: Angels Tragic Inspiration Familiar To Yankees Fans

Baseball, despite it being a competition, is a family.

There are friends who play against each other, actual brothers on opposing teams or on the same team, and former teammates who look across the field and see a guy they came through the system with. Now he may pitch against him or get a big hit off of him.

They're still family. They're just doing their jobs.

Fans also understand each other, despite being on opposite sides. Fans of rival teams are married to one another. Kids don't always love the teams their parents love. The friend you have dinner with one week, could be on the enemy side a few weeks later if their favorite teams go to a World Series.

We're still friends. We're just fans.

While Yankees fans root for their team to defeat the Anaheim Angels and advance to the World Series, many of those same fans know about watching their team take the field after a tragic loss.

They understand what the Angels and their fans are inspired by right now, because they remember Thurman Munson.

Nick Adenhart was 23. He'd just made his Major League debut a year before, while the Yankees catcher had many years (and two World Series rings) as the leader of his ball club. Both were taken by the cruel hand of fate: Adenhart by a drunk driver, Munson as pilot of a doomed flight.

But tragedy doesn't have a measure. Though Munson had been in the big leagues for ten years, he was still a young man himself, dying at 33 in 1979. Adenhart made his Angels debut in May of 2008. He was the starting pitcher against the Oakland A's on April 8th, 2009. Several hours later, he was gone.

Perhaps Munson, long retired, would've thrown out the first pitch at today's Yankees game. A game Nick Adenhart may have started, as the third guy in the rotation.

The Yankees might come out the winner, or maybe the Angels will hold on for another chance.

But wouldn't it be wonderful if those two were still here to take part?

Yes, as fans we have our sworn enemies.

But, in the end, the truth is,  we know each other well.

Yankees/Phillies World Series? Imagine The Possibilities.

For one moment in the early nineties, the Phillies were America's team.

When the Toronto Blue Jays played the Phillies in the 1993 World Series, the beloved "Macho Row" Phils had taken hold of the hearts and imaginations of baseball fans everywhere.

But the truth is, the New York Yankees are considered America's team by and far.

Phillies fans and baseball fans in general, accept it or at least try to. Many resent it. Words like "evil" and "empire" clarify that, no, everyone does not accept it.

Think about the excitement (and bedlam) if the 2008 World Champions and the all-time champions faced each other.

Each team has something on the line: the Phillies are defending their title. The Yankees haven't won a World title since 2000. Both teams fans are impatiently parked on the frontline with clenched jaws and raging hearts, with the attitude that this must belong to them once again.

The Yankees are trying to return to glory and the Phillies don't want to give theirs up.

When you close your eyes and envision a Phillies/Yankees World Series, there are any number of dramatic and interesting scenarios to come up with.

...A home run parade, with Ryan Howard and Alex Rodriguez leading the way. Don't forget the unlikely home run hitter, Chase Utley, who'd be out of a slump and knock a few out.

...Two of the best defensive shortstops in the game, displaying their skills and command, their leadership and athleticism. Derek Jeter and Jimmy Rollins would make the ESPN reel. The panel would debate who made the better play. Perhaps we'd see something we'd never seen before. Wouldn't be the first time, with either guy.

...Closers? Well, hey, this is about the imagination right? We can mix that with some of the history of both Mariano Rivera and Brad Lidge. Or is it Ryan Madson? Would we be seeing a future great closer emerge on the biggest stage in baseball? Madson, getting the chance of a lifetime, to close out a game five...or seven...everything on the line.... Or Mariano Rivera could come in and put everyone to sleep. That's also quite possible.

...The managers, well, they'd have to answer some tough questions. They wouldn't be able to make everyone happy. No manager ever can. He's a genius if it works out. And the one to blame if a key decision fails. Will young Joba Chamberlain be off of Joe Girardi's post-season roster?** Will C.C. Sabathia quiet fans who think he'll flop in his post-season Game 1 start? Who WILL the Phils closer be? Was Charlie Manuel right to give Cliff Lee the ball for Game 1? 

There's a lot of exciting baseball to dream up in a Yankees/Phils Fall Classic, but there's still getting there.

Yankees and Phillies fans still have to imagine that.

**Hours after I published this, Joba Chamberlain was included on the final roster. He'll pitch out of the bullpen.

High School Cross Country: Wesley Frazier, Joe and James Rosa

There's no shortage of amazing stories in sports.

And it's easy to be amazed by some of the feats of professionals, but writing about high school sports gives new perspective.

When a fourteen-year old North Carolina girl outruns everyone and she's four foot eleven and seventy eight pounds, well, there's a story. That girl, Wesley Frazier, beat the fastest boy's time last week at the Seahawk Invitational, where she placed first and set the state record clocking, in at 17:10.09.

One of the things I find most fascinating in sports is pressure: how much athletes can take, how they respond, how they handle both winning and losing. There's always pressure to live up to something, but when winning is the goal, you're automatically under pressure. High school athletes are in a different situation. They're developing mental and physical skills, but some have so much natural talent you wonder if they can handle the attention. Wesley Frazier is a girl that her coach, Leslie Payne, gave me the impression is truly focused on each race, working hard and moving forward. 

http://milespl.it/pt6e06

I'm working on a story on Joe Rosa as well, a New Jersey high school student that told me last year he wants to run professionally. The story is actually about him and his twin brother James, who is also a top NJ runner. They are both highly talented and Joe also told me then that they're competitive, but supportive of one another. The pressure didn't seem to affect them either. They might be in the same household, but have each other's backs.

It's impressive getting to know these kids. I may learn something all the time from talking to pros, but I think I learn the most from young athletes. They remind you not to start getting caught up in your own head and having self-doubt.

Gets you nowhere. And they would know. They're getting somewhere...fast.

Update: The story about Jim and Joe Rosa ended up being written by Geoffrey Decker. You can read it here: 

http://www.milesplit.us/articles/28854