ST. LOUIS - Had the Phillies been able to gaze into their crystal baseball a week ago and seen that Jimmy Rollins would be hitting .562 four games into the National League Division Series with six runs scored, four doubles, a walk and two stolen bases, they might have made a couple assumptions.
One is that they would have finished off the St. Louis Cardinals in the first round. And that Rollins could well have been voted the NLDS MVP.
Instead, they're tied at two games apiece going into the decisive Game 5 tomorrow night at Citizens Bank Park. And Rollins will not be the series MVP because, well, one isn't handed out for this round.
It's a given that Rollins makes the Phillies go. One of the often-quoted stats: The Phillies were 48-14 (.774) during the 2011 regular season when he scored a run.
"That's true," said hitting coach Greg Gross. "But it can't be one guy. I don't think there's any explanation. When things go like they're going, it snowballs just like good things. Jimmy got us going [with a leadoff double last night] and it looked like we were going to be on a pretty good roll."
Instead, the Phillies scored only once after the first inning and lost to the Cardinals, 5-3.
Elsewhere in the Phillies clubhouse, players insisted there will be no additional pressure on them tomorrow night, even though this is a team that knew coming into the season that anything short of winning the World Series would be viewed as a disappointment.
Rollins said it straight. "The truth is, it's not any other game," he admitted. "You win or you go home.
"It's fun. It's a pressure situation. This is what we play for. This is what we get paid for, to be in these situations. And I don't think anyone in here is afraid of it. Naturally, once the game is on its way, that's the toughest part. Playing the game, it becomes baseball again. That part's not necessarily easy but you're relaxed when you get there. When you have to sit around and think about it for a day is when you can get a little tight.
"But we have a night to think about it, then a day to clear our minds and get ready for [tomorrow]. Everyone in this clubhouse is looking forward to it. Yeah, we wanted to close it out here but now we have Game 5 and there's no better place to do it than CBP."
It might be time to bring back the Phillies team slogan for the 2000 season: Bring It On.
