With just a month and a half left in the season, the Phillies will almost certainly spend their September playing for pride. Manager Charlie Manuel, however, will not stand for any lapses in effort. Manuel had a one-on-one meeting with veteran shortstop Jimmy Rollins on Thursday after he didn't hustle out a ground ball during Wednesday's blowout loss. As a result of the less than maximum effort, Manuel called Rollins into the clubhouse during the team's batting practice. He kept the discussion private but did pass along the general sentiment to the media, via Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com:
"We have two rules: Hustle and be on time," Manuel said later. "That's all I have to say. This is between Jimmy and me."
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"After talking to him, I think he's ready to play," Manuel said. "He should be running hard from now on. We'll see."
Manuel had considered benching Rollins for Thursday but said the meeting of the minds in the clubhouse was enough at that point.
Rollins said he was upset about something before he started running and mentally checked out, forgetting to aggressively run through the base. He said there was no excuse, and the issue appears to be settled.
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