Paul Hagen: Rollins' clutch play in fifth inning two good

NEW YORK - Yankees designated hitter Hideki Matsui opened the bottom of the fifth with a single up the middle. It was the first time New York had gotten the first batter of the inning on base. The crowd began to stir.

The Yankees hadn't done much against Phillies starter Cliff Lee up to that point. Still, the New York lineup is always a crooked number waiting to happen. This could be the start of something big.

Robinson Cano followed with a humpbacked line drive toward shortstop Jimmy Rollins. And that's where the play started to turn strange.

Instead of taking a step forward and catching the ball cleanly, Rollins hung back. With his glove on the ground he received the ball in a scooping motion, ran to tag second base then threw to first.

Second base umpire Brian Gorman jerked his thumb in the air, signaling an out, but it wasn't immediately clear whether he meant that Rollins had caught the ball in the air or that Matsui had been forced at second. First base umpire Jeff Nelson indicated that Rollins' throw had pulled first baseman Ryan Howard off the bag. Rollins ran toward Howard, yelling and gesturing that he should tag Matsui, who was wandering back in the direction of the dugout.

Confused? The umpires were. As they huddled, the television replay clearly showed that Cano's popup had been caught before hitting the ground. That meant he was out. And, since Howard had tagged Matsui, it should be a doubleplay. After a brief discussion, that's exactly what the umps decided.

"I was trying to let it hit the ground," Rollins said. "I looked up and I saw Robinson kind of halfway. Worst-case scenario is

I catch the ball and that's what happened. Gorman, from the time I caught the ball, started yelling, 'Catch! Catch!' And I was kind of disappointed. I was like, 'Nooooo.'

"So I went ahead and went through it anyway and Matsui was walking back with his head down. I was trying to yell at Ryan to make sure he tagged him. And he did. So I turned around to Gorman and said, 'That's two outs.' And he was like, 'Let's talk about it.' Once I caught it and we tagged him, it was kind of automatic. There was nothing to mess up there."

It may not have made a difference. But in what was still a 1-0 game at the time, it also just might have.

Ever since his proclamation before the 2007 season that the Phillies - not the Mets - were the team to beat in the National League East, Rollins has been a special target of New York fans.