Favorites

With any sports team, people often talk about who their favorite player is. With the Phillies, I find it extremely difficult to point to one single player as my favorite. Arguments could be made for almost any of them to be my favorite. It seems like every player on the Phillies has been my "favorite" at one point or another, even if it's just for a single game. However, when I really think about it and have to pick someone, I can narrow it down to 3 players.

Chase Utley and Ryan Howard are 2 of those 3. Although both of them have gone through and will go through many slumps, they consistently perform at such a high level. They have been Phillies for their whole careers, and you get the feeling that it will stay that way with the contracts that they have along with their attitudes. Those two were pretty easy picks for favorites.

The third could have been any number of people. Jayson Werth has been one of the most valuable players on the Phillies the past few years yet stayed largely unnoticed throughout the country. Roy Halladay is an incredible pitcher with a great attitude. Chooch quietly gets the job done behind the plate better than most catchers, even if he may struggle at bat most of the time. Shane Victorino always seems to be having a good time while playing, and he quietly puts up some of the best offensive numbers for the Phils.

None of these people are that 3rd person for me though. That answer may surprise you, because it sure as heck surprised me once I started thinking about it.

Despite all of our differences over the years, Jimmy Rollins is one of my top 3 favorite Phillies alongside Chase and Ryan. This blog has been a haven for me to rip on Jimmy for over a year now, even going so far as to strip him of his nickname and refer to him as James Calvin Rollins when he is struggling. I hate his impatience at the plate. I can't stand that he doesn't always hustle. It bothers me that Charlie insists on him being a leadoff hitter when he lacks most of the characteristics of a real leadoff hitter. And, probably worst of all, I just want him to shut his mouth all the time

But the bottom line is, Jimmy Rollins is the Phillies. Nationally, it is probably between him and Ryan Howard for the face of this Phillies team. He has put in far more time with this organization than anyone else on the team. And when his numbers are good, the Phillies just win. It is always crazy when statistics are shown relating Rollins scoring a run to the Phillies winning. There is no doubt in my mind that our horrible play as of late is related to Jimmy being out of our lineup. We can only go so long without our leader. The Phillies offense works when Jimmy Rollins is a part of it. End of story.

So even though I've probably hated him more than I've loved him over the years, I wouldn't want anyone else playing shortstop for us. He helped define this team over the years, and he has earned pretty much anything he gets here due to all the time he put in with those crappy early 2000s teams. In 40 years, when I think back to these Phillies teams and the success we had, I will think of Jimmy first. When I look at who my favorite is, I think that's something that I have to consider. Because of that, there's no way Jimmy Rollins isn't one of my favorite players.