April 06, 2015
Throughout his long and wildly successful baseball career, James Calvin Rollins has always possessed a flare for the dramatic. As a Phillies fan, he was always the guy you wanted up at the plate in a big spot. So it should come as little surprise that in his first regular-season appearance as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Phillies' all-time hits leader did this with the game deadlocked at three in the bottom of the eighth inning:
You're asking for trouble leave if you leave a fastball down and in to a lefty like that. That swing proved to be the difference, as the Dodgers defeated the San Diego Padres, 6-3. With Dodger Stadium rocking and rolling and the G.O.A.T. Vin Scully on the call, that video is pretty much as good as it gets if you're rooting Rollins to finish out his career with a bang. If you're not, it's the opposite of that, and why don't you try to be a little more positive while you're at it? That said, it still is going to take some getting used to seeing him in Dodger Blue everyday.
A few weeks ago, Rollins discussed how "free" he feels in laid back California, and in this case, the proof seems to be in the pudding. On a depressing opening day for the Phillies franchise, I think it's only fair to fire up the nostalgia machine (otherwise known as MLB.com's video archives) and relive a moment when Scully called a different set of Rollins' late-game heroics:
