[I love that second crescendo– gets me every time]
As completely expected – despite sports talk radio CHATTER about whether fans would cheer Jimmy Rollins (of course they would) – J-Roll™ got the welcoming he deserved last night (more videos after the jump), as the borderline Hall of Fame candidate, former MVP, Phils all-time hit leader, and World Series champion* returned to Citizens Bank Park for the first time since being traded to the Dodgers. Of course, that didn’t stop OC Register reporter BILL PLUNKETT from getting in this dig:
Notorious for their ill manners, Philadelphia fans greeted Jimmy Rollins with cheers in his first visit to Citizens Bank Park as the enemy.
They cheered him during batting practice. They cheered him again when he stepped in to lead off the game for the Dodgers – so loud and long, in fact, that Rollins stepped out of the batter’s box twice to acknowledge the ovation. Even former teammates such as Ryan Howard applauded, slapping his glove at first base.
“It went on a little longer than I expected,” said Rollins who spent his first 15 years in the big leagues with the Phillies, winning an MVP and going to back-to-back World Series with the team in 2008 and 2009. “It was a great moment. The fans showed their appreciation.”
Thanks, Bill Plunkett.
More videos of Rollins’ first at-bat, and a special bonus Maikel Franco grand slam, after the jump. I have no idea if the Phillies won.
*Seriously, what the hell is wrong with people? Yeah, we sometimes gave Rollins a hard time – he wasn’t my favorite player – but on the scale of boo-to-cheer, Rollins is without question an 8 or 9. Dude accomplished more here than 99% of local athletes. There was absolutely no doubt in anyone’s mind that he was going to get a standing O. And yet, it still became a topic over the last few days.
22 Responses
Dear Bill
Our usual ill manners have now retuned. Let me give you an example: go back to LA and go fuck yourself.
Yea, I guess if Philadelphia plays its cards right we might be lucky enough to have roaming gangs of chulos in our parking lot shanking opposing fans too some day. One can dream, right guys….??
This bitch needs to take a fucking swan dive into a wood chipper, beaver first.
I ant wait for Bill Plaschke’s “philly fans are horrible” article that glosses over the ovation Rollins got.
Maikel Franco,Aaron Nola,Ken Giles and the lightning quick Caesar Hernandez have me excited about watching Phillies baseball again.
And btw,how great was it watching the future superstar in Maikel Franco,put the team on his back by hitting that grand slam late in the game.
You know that you’re supposed to put a space after commas, right?
I like how he conveniently left out your chances of getting stabbed or killed in the Dodgers parking lot are much higher then our bad manners which we didn’t show here.
Took the words out of my mouth. Going to a Dodgers game is straight dangerous in the upper levels. Gang activity all over the place and people get killed there.
But hey, they boo people in Philly. What creatons.
Happy Birthday to Patrick Ewing, the greatest Sixer of all time!
Kyle,
This is ridiculous, you don’t deserve to call yourself a Philly sports fan. Just a classic fair-weather guy that only tunes in when your team is in the Postseason. The Phillies right now are the most fun team in baseball to watch. They are bringing energy to every game, last night CBP seemed to be jumping again for the first time in a long time, Franco is doing rookie Ryan Howard-esque things, and you can’t even be bothered to look up a score, or even watch a goddamn game? Compounded by your serious lack of Phillies knowledge in the past(identifying Luis Garcia as Antonio Bastardo when Bastardo is now playing for Pittsburgh), you are a bigtime trash fair-weather fan. smh, this is the future of the Phillies, and the way they are playing, it makes you excited about the future, but you can’t even be bothered to tune in. smh
ALSO, people of Philadelphia, go out and support this team right now! They are playing unbelievably right now, last night, CBP was jumping at times. This team deserves it.
This team deserves it? Because of a couple good weeks? They still have the worst record in MLB. It’s a business, put out a consistently good product and people will show up.
OK I don’t know how serious that was. If it was, it’s scary homerism crap, but the point is valid.
Kyle really sucks.
You lose any shred of credibility the moment you say “they’re the most fun team in baseball to watch right now.” Stop it. The Yankees have scored more runs over a 10 game span than any team in the last decade, the Blue Jays are raking with their new lineup, hell even the Mets have become interesting as of late taking the lead from the Nats in the division. I’ll pass on watch Cesar hitting slap singles and Aaron Harang lobbing meatballs. Sure, they’re more exciting to watch than a couple months ago, and guys like Franco and Nola are promising, but to say they’re the most fun team to watch is Skip Bayless level asinine.
I would fuck this guy…I mean fuck this guy.
I can understand how he would make such an ignorant comment. There are no Dodgers fans in the stands to provide an ovation for a players return to LA. The fans do not arrive until the 3rd inning. He does not have any context to judge us.
They are too busy smoking trees and shanking opposing fans during the early innings to be bothered with watching the actual games. Don’tchu know ese?????
Here’s a headline for the next game in LA: “Normally stabby Dodgers fans allow everyone to get home safely.”
Hank I’m putting you in the hopper!
THE PHILLIES ARE THE HOTTEST TEAM IN BASEBALL SINCE THEY GOT RID OF THAT BUM SANDBERG. IF THEY PLAYED LIKE THIS ALL YEAR THEY WOULD BE IN THE PLAYOFF RACE!! AMARO HAD A GREAT MANAGER IN MCKANNIN RIGTH UNDER HIS NOSE THIS WHOLE TIME. THEY NEED TO SIGN HIM TO AN EXTENSION BEFORE HE GOES SOMEWHERE ELSE.
NY Yankees: 21-11
Pittsburgh: 21-12
Kansas City: 22-14
NY Mets: 20-13
LA Dodgers: 19-13
LA Angels: 19-14
San Francisco: 18-14
Chi Cubs: 19-15
St. Louis: 19-15
Chi White Sox: 18-15
San Diego: 17-15
Milwaukee: 18-16
Houston: 17-16
Toronto: 17-17
Seattle: 17-18
Reality Bites.
I was born and raised right outside of Philly and I now live in Orange (Orange County), CA. I can confirm that OC Register is barely even a real newspaper. Bro is just mad because Orange County fans (and let’s be honest – people in general) are the absolute worst (see: Ducks fans and Angels fans – even though it’s technically LA’s team).
We can read the writing on the wall,” Rollins said. More than anything, when Pat had mentioned we wouldn’t be competitive for a few years after that, we were already at that point where we wanted to be ready now.
Comments are closed.