For the last couple of weeks, there has been a strange and somewhat sad story unfolding in the Philadelphia Phillies camp. Jimmy Rollins, who should go down as one of the all-time great Phillies, is being questioned about his attitude and whether he is hurting the franchise by refusing to allow himself to be traded. Rollins is 35 years old and has played in Philadelphia his entire career. Hes a three-time All-Star and a four-time Gold Glover. He won a Silver Slugger Award and was named the National League MVP in 2007, in addition to winning a World Series with the Phils in 2008. Rollins has one year, plus a vesting option for another year, left on his contract. He is a "5/10" man, that is, he has played 10 years in the Majors and five consecutive years with his current team, so he has the power to veto any trade. Its no secret that the Phillies are an older, veteran team that may have one more shot at glory or, more likely, is heading for a blow-up and a major rebuild. Rollins, perhaps bothered or jaded by the teams struggles the past couple of years, was accused in so many words of not hustling enough or providing enough leadership. At one point, his previous manager, Charlie Manuel, benched him to send a message and this spring, his current manager, Ryne Sandberg, sat Rollins for three days after he said that spring training games were basically meaningless. The Detroit Tigers need a shortstop since Jose Iglesias is likely gone for the season with stress fractures in both of his legs. Rumours began that the Phils might try to deal Rollins to the Tigers. Rollins responded by saying he is unmovable because, at this time, he doesnt want to go anywhere. Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro, Jr. angrily shot down the rumours, saying there never was any talk of trading Rollins in the first place. One of Rollinss motives for wanting to stay in Philly is his pursuit of the franchises all-time hits record. He needs just 60 more to break Hall of Famer Mike Schmidts mark of 2234. Rollins is fourth on the list right now behind Schmidt, Richie Ashburn and Ed Delahanty. Even with a subpar season, Rollins will pass all three as long as he stays healthy. Jimmy Rollins is accused of being selfish for not allowing a trade for the good of the franchise. In Toronto, Mats Sundin and Carlos Delgado took the same kind of heat from Leafs and Blue Jays fans when they refused to be dealt in the final years of their contracts. Rollins is already the Phils career leader in doubles, but the hits record is something special to him. As he put it, only 30 players in baseball can say they lead a franchise in base hits. Is he being selfish? Not if he gives everything hes got to the Phillies every time hes on the diamond. Rollins wouldnt be the first to hang in to attempt to reach a career milestone. Two of the greatest pitchers in Major League history hung in past their primes in order to reach 300 wins. Lefty Grove, in some pundits minds the greatest pitcher of all-time, came back in 1941 needing seven wins for 300. He won his 299th on July 2 of that season. Essentially down to being a once-a-week pitcher for the Boston Red Sox at that time, he didnt get number 300 until July 25 and it wasnt pretty. Grove went all the way in a 10-6 victory over Cleveland giving up five earned runs on 12 hits. He never won again that season and called it a career on December 7, 1941, the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Early Wynn, Tom Cheeks original partner on the Blue Jays radio broadcasts, went 7-15 with the Chicago White Sox in 1962 and finished that season with 299 victories. He came back with the Cleveland Indians, the club with which he had most of his greatest seasons, in 1963 at age 43 for one last shot at number 300. On July 13, he finally got it , but hardly in grand and glorious style. Wynn left the game after five innings with Cleveland holding a 5-4 lead over the Kansas City Atheltics. Earlys roommate, Jerry Walker, took over and held KC scoreless over the final four innings. Wynn became the first pitcher to have won 300 since Lefty Grove in 1941. There was one other case that I can recall of a player hanging in to get a record. Carlton Fisk, then of the Chicago White Sox, broke Bob Boones all-time record for games caught behind the plate with his 2,226th on June 22, 1993. Six days later, in what was perceived to be a heartless move, Fisk was released by the club. Is Jimmy Rollins selfish? No less so than any of the above three Hall of Famers. As long as the effort and the desire are there, I say more power to Rollins. He has a contract and the rules of baseball say he cant be traded. The one last twist to this story: Mike Schmidt is an icon in Philadelphia and will be working on home-game telecasts on Sundays this season. There are a lot of Philllies fans who dont want to see him lose this record. Rollinss position in all of this reminds of the heat Roger Maris was taking in his successful pursuit of Babe Ruths single season home run record in 1961. Some never forgave him for hitting 61 in 61. Jimmy Rollins doesnt deserve to receive the same kind of scorn. If he breaks the record, hes earned it. - Its hard to get into the idea of the season opening this weekend in Australia. The Los Angeles Dodgers are taking on the Arizona Diamondbacks in two games before returning to Arizona for the remainder of spring training. The really strange thing is, thanks to the time difference, the season effectively opens as a day-night doubleheader for us. The first game starts at 4am et/1am pt on Saturday morning and the second one at 10pm et/7pm pt on Saturday night. - One sad note out of the Blue Jays camp: the team released lefty reliever Luis Perez to make room for utility sluggerMatt Tuiasosopo, who was picked up on waivers from Arizona. Two years ago, Perez, for my money, was the best all-around reliever in the Jays bullpen. But then he blew out his elbow and needed Tommy John surgery. Perez was supposed to be back this season like Drew Hutchison and Kyle Drabek, however, he had a set back in the offseason and needed further surgery to remove scar tissue. Now at 29, his career is in limbo. Heres hoping he can make it back all the way to the Bigs somewhere. Nike Roshe Run Flyknit Womens. Louis Blues.The Senators trailed by one goal heading into the third period on Saturday and couldnt spark a comeback as the Blues dominated the final 20 minutes to hang on to a 3-2 victory. Buy Nike Roshe Online Nz. Spezza was tasked with taking over for Alfredsson as captain, and Ryan with filling the void as a scoring winger. In the Senators first game against Alfredsson and the Detroit Red Wings, Spezza and Ryan fittingly spearheaded an impressive offensive display in a 6-1 blowout at Joe Louis Arena. http://www.airmax2016nz.com/nike-air-max-2016-nz/air-max-2016-mens.html. Earlier, Bayern coach Pep Guardiola told reporters he feared Ribery will be missing "for a long time," without being more specific. But Guardiola also said he hoped to have Ribery back for the Club World Cup that starts Dec. Nike Roshe Run Mens Cheap. Komissarova writes on Instagram, "I dont feel my body below my navel. But I am strong and I know that Ill be able to stand on my legs again some day. Nike Air Max 2016 Mens Sale. Calve, from Gatineau, Que., claimed her third career World Cup win by edging Russias Ekaterina Tudegesheva in the final, beating her opponent by just 0.BROSSARD, Que. - Brian Gionta knows what happened the last time the Montreal Canadiens opened a playoff series with a pair of wins on the road. It was in 2011, and the Boston Bruins stormed back to win on a Nathan Horton shot off a defencemans leg in Game 7 overtime. Before that was 2006, when the Canadiens took the opening two games in Carolina only to drop the next four, partly through losing star centre Saku Koivu to a series-ending eye injury from an accidental high stick by Justin Williams in Game 4. Both times, the team that came back to beat the Canadiens went on to win the Stanley Cup. After taking their opening two games of this years playoffs with wins of 5-4 and 4-1 over the Lightning in Tampa, Fla., Gionta doesnt want history to repeat itself. "Its huge, but at the end of the day, we fell into that trap against Boston a few years back," the Canadiens captain said Saturday. "We won two games in their building and we came back and let off the gas a bit. "So we need to make sure that our focus is on (Sunday) night and make sure we do what we did in the first two games." Game 3 of the best-of-seven series is set for Sunday night at the Bell Centre, where a wall of sound from the 21,273 spectators is expected to greet the Canadiens. They didnt skate after a late-night flight home from Tampa, but the message from the coach Michel Therrien and his staff was about taking care of business on home ice. "We all understand that the farther you get in the playoffs the more difficult the games are to play," said Therrien. "Were glad were back at home, but I like our focus. "We have a business mentality. Its about preparing ourselves for (the next game)." Therrien has much to be pleased about. His team has had the edge on the Lightning for all but the first period of Game 2 on Saturday night, when strong goaltending from Carey Price kept the game scoreless until Montreal took control in the second frame on a power-play goal from David Desharnais and Rene Bourques first of the game. Brendan Gallagher and Bourque added goals in the third before Teddy Purcell got one — on a power play plus the goalie pulled for an extra attacker — at 18:01. The Desharnais goal broke a nine-game drought for the Montreal power play. They have also been getting scoring from all four lines. EEight different forwards have scored goals, which takes some pressure off the top unit of Desharnais, Max Pacioretty and Thomas Vanek.dddddddddddd Desharnais got his first goal in 12 career post-season games, while Paciorettys assist on the same tally was his first point in six career playoff games. The line combined for 22 shots in two games, so it should produce more as the playoffs go on. The Canadiens also took advantage of the absence of Tampa Bays injured top goalie Ben Bishop by beating Anders Lindback eight times in two games and adding another against Kristers Gudlevskis — the Latvian who made 55 stops in a 2-1 loss to Canada at the Sochi Olympics. Gudlevskis let in one goal on three Montreal shots. And they held Tampa Bay star Steven Stamkos to two goals, both in Game 1, and no assists, although the gifted sniper has nine shots on goal. So the Canadiens are in good position to win a playoff series for the first time since goalie Jaroslav Halaks heroics got them to the Eastern Conference final in 2010. But they know how far away that goal is. All-time, the Canadiens are 49-5 when leading a best-of-seven series 2-0, but have lost three of the last four times in that situation. "Theyre going to make adjustments," said Gionta. "Its the playoffs and youve got to try to read what theyre going to do, make adjustments on the fly, and see what happens. "I thought we did a fairly good job of that (Friday) night. We need to do it again." Giontas line with centre Lars Eller and left-winger Bourque has been particularly solid. Eller entered this years post-season with two assists in eight career games, but now leads the team with a goal and two assists. Bourque was a target for fans all through a sub-par regular season with nine goals in 63 games in which he was made a healthy scratch for the first time in his career. He sat out five straight games in March. He may get a warmer reception after two solid games in Tampa, including his first career playoff game with more than one goal. "Since hes back in our lineup, before the playoffs, Rene Bourque was playing the way we expect him to play," said Therrien. "We dont judge players only on goals and assists. "What I like is that hes engaged in the game. Hes physical. Hes going hard to the net and he got rewarded." China Jerseys? 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