Rollins, Victorino win Gold Gloves

In addition to the powerful offense and surprisingly excellent pitching that helped propel the 2008 Phillies to the world championship, the team benefitted from outstanding defense. Two of those defenders were honored today by National League managers and coaches with Gold Glove Awards: 

One of the standard methods of constructing a winning baseball team is to secure adept defenders up the middle, typically at catcher, second base, shortstop and center field.

At the latter two of those spots, the World Series champion Phillies have two Rawlings Gold Glove Award winners in shortstop Jimmy Rollins and outfielder Shane Victorino. The teammates secured the hardware Wednesday, with Rollins winning his second consecutive award and Victorino his first.

I think both awards were deserved, insomuch as one can say that about anything as entirely subjective as the Gold Gloves. Rollins might not be a better defender than Colorado's Troy Tulowitzki, but given Tulo's injury absences this season and the respective fortunes of the Phillies and Rockies, I'm glad to see Jimmy--whose glovework never suffered even when his bat disappeared for stretches--take home the hardware. As for Victorino, his great speed, powerful arm and good routes to fly balls render him a worthy choice.

It does sting a bit that second baseman Chase Utley was not also recognized. Utley's defensive brilliance was on display throughout the postseason, and was vital in both NLCS Game Four, when he snared a line drive that might have scored two runs and lunged to the second-base bag to complete a double play, and World Series Game Five, when he threw out Jason Bartlett at the plate to preserve a 3-3 tie a half-inning before the Phils plated the winning run. Perhaps with those examples now in mind--as well as Utley's excellence in some of the emerging defensive metrics--he'll have a better shot at winning the award in future seasons.