Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins(notes) fouled a ball off his right kneecap Saturday night and the rumor has been that he could be headed to the disabled list.

General Manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said Tuesday that an MRI shows that Rollins has a “pretty significant” bruise and the Phils would take the next 24-48 hours to decide if Rollins needed to take a break or not, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

“If I go on the DL, it’s purely because they made a bad decision,” Rollins said, according to the paper

Rollins “went through throwing drills before Tuesday’s” 6-2 loss to the Los Angels Dodgers, the Inquirer reports, and even made a ninth-inning pinch-hitting appearance that resulted in a flyout. The paper notes that Rollins planned to run on a treadmill during Tuesday’s game and Manager Charlie Manuel said that he might be back in the lineup Wednesday.

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Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

Related: Philadelphia Phillies

Charlie Manuel’s positive and optimistic face is beginning to slip.

After an atrocious 6-2 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night in which his Philadelphia Phillies failed in all aspects of the game, Manuel steamed with frustration.

“Especially against that pitching we saw tonight, we should have scored some runs off him,” said the Phillies manager of Los Angeles starter Rubby De La Rosa, who, in his first major league start, threw just 46 strikes in 96 pitches, walked five hitters in the first two innings, allowed three hits in one inning and wound up allowing just one run in five innings to earn the win.
“This is an everyday game and just because you did something yesterday or last year doesn’t mean you’re going to do it today or tomorrow or this year,” said Manuel, fuming.

A reporter asked who Manuel was saying that to — fans, players — and Manuel shot back, “I’m saying it to anyone who will listen.”

Manuel described his team’s play as “shoddy,” exceptionally strong language for him, and called Tuesday a “very bad ballgame.”

While the Phils’ pitching, baserunning and defense all left enormous amounts of skill and competence to be desired, it was — once again — hitting that infuriated Manuel.

De La Rosa, 22, brings a really live arm, funky movements on his pitches and no particular concept of control. If he found the strike zone it seemed to be a somewhat random occurrence.

Manuel’s 2008 or 2009 teams would have torn apart De La Rosa like Godzilla ripping into Bambi. After the second inning, after five free passes in two innings, the Phils would have been up 7-0 or some such score and the rout would have been on.

But, as Manuel has by this point figured out, in 2011 there is no such certainty. Instead, his aging team, increasingly hobbled by injuries (Jimmy Rollins did not start Tuesday for the second straight game) watched De La Rosa dodge bullets in three straight innings.

Instead, De La Rosa survived rather nicely. He stranded seven runners, didn’t give up an extra-base hit and allowed just one run, on a bases-loaded walk of all things. Phillies third base coach Juan Samuel didn’t help by getting Raul Ibanez thrown out at home in the third, the biggest base-running blunder, though the Phils had several to choose.

Still, one clutch hit would likely have caused De La Rosa to fold like an
origami bird, but the Phils couldn’t make anything fly.

“We’ve got to hit better,” Manuel said.“We couldn’t get the big hit when runners were on base (or at any time, getting just five on the game).”

Not that the Phils were efficient in any other part of the game. Roy Oswalt, lacking some pop on his fastball and leaving pitches up, struggled through six so-so innings, allowing four runs and eight hits.

“Roy isn’t as sharp as he was,” Manuel said. “Last year when he got him he was pretty sharp, his change-up was great and he was attacking the strike zone.”

Oswalt, who has gotten just eight runs of support in his four losses this season, suffered consecutive losses for the first time as a Phillie.

“I don’t think I’m trying to do too much,” Oswalt said. “I thought after that one inning (a three-run third) it went pretty well. If I get one more strikeout there we get out of the inning. I’m just out there trying to win, trying to pitch my game, and I’ve done that for 300-400 starts in my career pretty well.”

Oswalt was in no way helped by some uncharacteristic fielding blunders, including one throwing error by Chase Utley (who had an errant second-inning throw, not charged as an error, lead to a run) and a botched pick-off play that led to two runs.

“I’ve been in spells like this before,” Oswalt said. “You just wait to turn it around and go the right way.”

Manuel is getting tired of waiting.

“We didn’t deserve to win this game,” he said. “I always try and stay positive but we just have to play better baseball. That’s the bottom line.”

Brad Wilson can be reached at 800-360-3601 or bwilson@express-times.com. Talk about sports at lehighvalleylive.com/forums.