How Charlie Manuel's Contract Got Jimmy Rollins Benched

In the third inning of yesterday's Phillies game, Jimmy Rollins hit a pop up to shortstop and loafed his way down the line. Paul Janish dropped the ball, though, and magnified the lack of hustle shown by the NL MVP. Charlie Manuel benched Rollins a couple of innings later.

To Rollins's credit, he took his medicine like a man. A man who knew that he'd made an unforgivable baseball sin.

"It's like breaking the law and getting mad when the police show up. He's been here four years, and we've probably talked about it twice. Three strikes and you're out, I guess. I'm not going to be a distraction. This is the team. I did what I did. When you do something, you get caught, and it is what it is. Problems only occur when they keep reoccurring."

Message received, then, and everyone moves on and this becomes a non-story. There was another message, though, and one that could remain a story. This is officially Manuel's team.

Getting the team into the playoffs last year took him from dead man walking to owner of a shiny two-year extension. I can't see him responding this way a year ago because you need to know that, if the move backfires somehow, it won't come back to bite you in the rear end. Now Manuel has the leverage, even against the reigning MVP, to run the team exactly as he sees fit.