Phillies hall of famer Mike Schmidt sat down with the media in Clearwater yesterday and discussed his feelings on the Phillies offense last season candidly. In his opinion, one most of us share, was that the Phillies underachieved offensively.
"I think a lot of them feel like they underachieved last year. I look for big years out of all those guys that feel that. I go right to Rollins and Victorino and Utley. Not so much Ruiz. I think he had a fantastic year. Ryan was all right. Ibanez had a good second half, but a very poor start overall. His year was OK, but not as good as it could be. We have a combination of great things going here. We've got a fantastic starting staff, a good bullpen, always a great defense and a whole bunch of hungry hitters."
Schmidt feels like Rollins and Victorino should be pushing 200 hits a year each... In fact, he wants Rollins to play the Pete Rose role (don't we all?)
"Jimmy Rollins can't do what Pete Rose did? Just take a year. I mean Pete Rose got 200 hits 10 straight years and Jimmy is faster. I just think Pete understood more what his role was. Jimmy needs to be more Pete Rose-like in his approach to the game and more accountable for getting on base. Offensively, he's about running and getting on base and getting hits and leading the league in hitting. He wants to look at the USA Today every day or the Inquirer and see his name right up there in the top three of hitting. It should be, right? Same with Victorino and I know they feel that way."