Are you saying that Utley is more deserving while playing 122 games ?  -- interesting.

You kids kill me. Is that an actual statistic of some sort, or a moon that orbits Saturn?

Rollins said the Phils were the team to beat -- taking all of the pressure off his teammates -- then went on to play his best ball when the pressure was greatest. He absolutely pounded the Mets. Rollins makes a bold statement and the insanely resilliant Phils make one of the most incredible comebacks of all time. Coincidence? I think not.

I firmly believe that without Rollins' remarks, the Phils don't win the NL East.

You kids need to find a geeky formula and geeky acronym to measure that impact.

I come here for entertainment, David. I used to respect this site as credible. But after reading some of the ignorant, uninformed opinions on the value of chemistry and intangibles and how they relate to Rowand and other related topics -- I come here for comedy these days.

What a bunch of idiots these baseball writers are.

Some people just don't seem to understand things beyond statistics.

"Somehow because sportswriters get paid to disseminate their opinions they are intellectually superior to all of the people who don't get paid to write about sports. Therefore, people who have ideas that may challenge the common sensical drivel of mainstream sportswriters are automatically less credible or simply wrong."

You destroy your credibility with a blatant attack on "sportswriters." Like it or not, sportswriters are the professionals -- and it is a highly competitive business -- who get to see what goes on behind the scenes.

I wasn't even referring to "sportswriters" anyway. People who know the game don't pay much attention to "VORP" (still don't know what it means; have no desire to) or any of these other geeky stats that you kids come up with.

"And again, your regarding "sportswriters" with the reverence you express invalidates your whole case as far as I'm concerned. I was in that business. With a few honorable exceptions, they're basically lazy, bitter men who uncritically accept the received wisdom of sports establishment types--just as you accept theirs."

That's just a dumb sweeping generalization. Really ignorant. Particularly the sportswriters who are part of the BBWAA. They are the elite, the Peter Gammons and Tim Kurkjians. They take their role very seriously. Somebody writes something you don't agree with, so their lazy and stupid.

And don't give me the predictable irony argument. What's posted here half the time is blatantly short-sighted. Pure ignorance typical of most fans who lead with their hearts and not their heads.

As I said earlier, Rollins took the lead in the MVP race when he proclaimed the Phillies the team to beat. He put himself out front with a big fat bullseye. It allowed his teammates like Pat Burrell, Aaron Rowand and Ryan Howard to labor in relative peace. When the Phils went to NY, it was Rollins every writer wanted to talk to, Rollins every Mets' fan wanted to boo and Rollins every talk show host wanted to rip.

Not many athletes can take on that kind of pressure and succeed -- fewer still have any desire to do so. Yet Rollins posted his best stats against the Mets.

His words gave the Phillies backbone, resilliance and a core belief they could get the job done. As I said, without Jimmy saying what he did, I doubt the Phils end up as NL East champs. Some people just aren't going to understand that, but there's a strong corelation.

You really want to understand what writers know that you can't measure with your vogue VORP formulas? Check out Jim Salisbury's article today:

"On that second-to-last Sunday of the regular season, the Phillies lost in Washington to fall 21/2 games behind the first-place Mets in the division and a half-game behind San Diego in the wild-card chase. After that loss, in the quiet clubhouse at RFK Stadium, Rollins, witnesses said, made a point to speak quietly with every teammate. He told his teammates to stay strong, to believe, to keep striving for their goal. The Phils then won four of their final six games."

Did I read some idiot actually type "What do intangibles have to do with being MVP?"

I don't even know how to respond to that level of stupidity.

More MVP data you can't measure.

"Remember July 25? Two down. Bottom of the ninth. Phils down a run to Washington. Rollins tripled and scored the tying run on an error. The Phils won the game on Ryan Howard's homer in the 14th.

Remember Aug. 26? The Phils had lost four in a row and their offense had sputtered. Rollins led off a game against the Padres with a tone-setting bunt single to key a 14-2 win and start a six-game winning streak that included four victories over the Mets.

And who could forget Sept. 20 in Washington? The Phils were down by 6-0 after two innings. Jayson Werth hit a three-run homer to get the Phils back in the game, and Rollins broke a 6-6 tie with a two-out double in the eighth."

But he only finished 9th in VORP! Ohmygoodness!!