Rollins' aggressive approach pays off on basepaths
It wasn't a typical time to try that kind of move, but with Astros reliever Wesley Wright not paying close attention, Rollins beat his throw over easily.
Manager Charlie Manuel is quite all right with Rollins' aggressive nature on the basepaths, even in non-typical stealing situations. The veteran shortstop has stolen third base 11 times this year, which ranked third in the Majors heading into Friday's games.
"He knows what he's doing," Manuel said. "He'll get thrown out sometimes when he's not supposed to, but that's also the chance you take."
Only the Blue Jays' Rajai Davis (17) and the A's Coco Crisp (12) have stolen third more times this season. Davis and Crisp have each been caught trying to steal third, though, while Rollins hasn't in 2012.
For his career, Rollins has stolen third base 81 times and only been caught 11 times, good for an 88 percent success rate. His career success rate stealing second base is 82 percent.
Manuel mentioned how some of the Phillies' former baserunning threats -- Jayson Werth and Shane Victorino among them -- also had the freedom to take a few risks on the basepaths.
"We knew that sometimes if we take chances, you'll get thrown out in a tough time," Manuel said. "There will be talk. It'll open up some second guessing for you. At the same time, as long we have a high stolen base percentage like we did, that's kind of a chance you take."
The Phillies have led the National League in stolen base percentage every year since 2007. They have been successful 83 percent of the time in 2012, which leads the National League.