Jimmy Rollins Official Website

THERE ARE SO many things that have to go right, that on that rare occasion when you find yourself in the batter's box representing the winning run and the baseball hurtling toward you looks exactly the way you'd envisioned it in your dreams, the instinctual feeling that floods into your mind can be boiled down to seven words. "You try not to foul it off," Jimmy Rollins said. He didn't foul it off last night. Not even close. With one out, the 1-1 fastball from Kerry Wood came hurtling toward the center of the plate at 96 mph, and the shortstop whipped his bat into action, greeting the ball at the tip of the plate and sending it sailing in a smooth line toward the seats in rightfield for a two-run homer that lifted the Phillies to a 7-6 victory over the Indians. It was Rollins' first career walkoff home run, and it came at a time when the Phillies were in desperate need of the emotional outpouring that such a hit provides. Not to mention, it was Rollins who committed an error in the top of the ninth that allowed the Indians to take the lead. So as he walked to the batter's box in the bottom of the ninth, the Phillies were on the verge of dropping a winnable game to one of the American League's lowliest clubs. The previous 8 1/2 innings had served as a lesson of the wisdom that manager Charlie Manuel espoused in his pregame meeting with reporters, that a baseball team can never have enough pitching, that even though his club entered the day ranked in the bottom half of the National League in every major offensive category outside of home runs, its destiny still boiled down to whether its rotation and bullpen could consistently keep the opposition off the scoreboard. Righthander Kyle Kendrick allowed five runs before he was pulled three batters into the fifth inning, young Cleveland slugger Shin-Soo Choo having hit his second two-run homer of the game, and the Phillies bullpen received a major blow when reliever Chad Durbin attempted to field a bunt in the ninth inning and, instead, pulled a hamstring, putting the eventual go-ahead run on first base. J.C. Romero (1-0) entered for Durbin and the Indians promptly went ahead, 6-5. With runners at second and third and the infield drawn in, Carlos Santana hit a hard one-hopper to shortstop. Rollins made a diving backhanded stop, but the throw home from his knees skipped past Brian Schneider for an error and Trevor Crowe scored standing. A lineup that has received the brunt of the blame for the Phillies' current third-place standing in the National League East hit the ball far better than the final score would indicate, even when considering Schneider's solo home run, his first as a Phillie, that tied the game at 5 in the fifth and Jayson Werth's solo shot in the second. But until the bottom half of the ninth inning, the game looked destined to end in the Phillies' 20th loss in 32 games. That's when Rollins got his redemption. Schneider walked to start the inning and was replaced by pinch-runner Wilson Valdez, who moved to second on a bang-bang play at first that resulted in pinch-hitter Ben Francisco being called out. Activated Tuesday after his second stint on the disabled list, this one a monthlong, Rollins had been hitless in his first eight at-bats. His ninth is one the Phillies hope will propel them once and for all out of their current doldrums. He took the first two pitches he saw, both of them fastballs, one of them a called strike, one of them a ball, before zeroing on the third. Once he made contact, the only question was whether it would sail to the left or right of the foul pole. Instead of hooking, it stayed true, and the Phillies streamed out of their dugout to celebrate a win that seemed ripped from the pages of 2008 or 2009. "I think that's what makes baseball good," Manuel said. "It's almost like it was made for him to get up there with a guy on base. That's unreal. He's sitting there and the last 2 nights he hadn't had a hit, and all of a sudden he is up there in a situation where he can win the game and he pops one out." The news wasn't all good. Durbin said afterward that he is headed to the DL with a Grade 1 hamstring strain that typically carries a 2-to-3-week recovery. But every Phils regular had a hit, with Werth going 3-for-3 and Ryan Howard 2-for-4. Rollins' 1-for-5 might not look as impressive in comparison, but it is the reason the Phils' record is now 37-32, and their deficit in the division is now at 3 1/2 games. "It was just one of those moments," Rollins said. "You try to do it all year long, but your brain just stops working, and you stop thinking about what you need to do and you just set your hands, and I've taken enough swings where you hope you get the right pitch. And when you get that pitch, you try not to foul it off. A good thing happened tonight."