Weekend Buzz: Rollins far from MVP form this year

The Weekend Buzz while you were wondering how Michael Phelps does it when you can't even swim in your backyard pool without losing a contact lens. ...

Rollins' numbers are down nearly across the board. (Getty Images)

1. MVP-pffft: Philadelphia's season is perilously close to going south, the Phillies having flopped out west. And as they wobble into their final 38 games attempting to catch the Mets and hold off the Marlins in a remarkably mediocre NL East, their 2007 MVP has been seen only in rare flashes.

Last summer, shortstop Jimmy Rollins set an NL record for runs scored by a shortstop (139).

This summer, he's barely on pace for half of that (73).

Even more noticeable was Phillies manager Charlie Manuel yanking him from a June 5 game against the Mets when Rollins didn't hustle to first base on a popup that was dropped.

And Manuel's benching him for a July 24 series finale against the Mets when Rollins arrived late to Shea Stadium.

Last season, Rollins promised an NL East title during spring training and practically threw the Phillies onto his back while leading them to it.

This season, the most noise he has made came last week when, on a national television program, he called Philadelphia fans "front-runners." That ought to play well when Rollins and the Phillies open their latest crucial homestand Tuesday against Washington.

You wonder: Is the Phillies' fade and the unusually erratic behavior of their leader related? Even a wee bit?

No, insists Manuel.

"We handled that," Manuel says. "We have two rules: Be on time and hustle. If we've got rules, we've got rules -- and that applies to the manager, too. What the hell, I don't think that has nothing to do with it."

No, says Phillies second baseman Chase Utley.

"I didn't see any effect on us as a team," Utley says of that loss July 24 to the Mets. "We have a mature group of guys here."