Rollins Rips Yankee Stadium Atmosphere

NEW YORK -- This won't feel like a World Series, Jimmy Rollins said after two games were in the books, until the scene shifts to Philadelphia.

Yes, the latest man New York loves to hate is at it again.

The Phillies shortstop got Mets fans riled up in 2007 when he called the Phillies the team to beat in the NL East. And he was right.

Then this week he predicted a Philadelphia victory in the World Series, in five games.

And now he is on Yankee Stadium fans for being "tame."

"I was expecting some of that [Philadelphia rowdiness] here," Rollins said early Friday morning, after a 3-1 Yankees victory tied the series 1-1, "but it was very tame and civilized, really.

"You only had one big cheer, and that was on home runs."

"I was expecting some of that [Philadelphia rowdiness] here, but it was very tame and civilized, really."
-- Jimmy Rollins on the Yankee Stadium crowd Rollins was asked if this feels "more like a World Series" than last year's Series with Tampa Bay.

"When we get to Philly, it will," he said.

Because the atmosphere will be so different?

"Exactly."

The new, $1.5 billion Yankee Stadium has come under criticism since it opened for expensive (and often empty) seats and a sterile atmosphere resulting from pricing the die-hard fans out of the park.

In the second half of the season, as the Yankees heated up, the stadium rocked almost like the old place used to.

But in the World Series, with its pricey tickets and people showing up to be seen ... not quite the same.

Before Game 2, Rollins said of the new stadium: "They had a legacy over there from the hallways, the monuments, everything. Here it's brand new. It's a different ballpark. It's prettier, big ol' jumbo screens everywhere. I would have to say it's a lot different from what I would have expected it to have been."


Actually, the crowd was alive early. When Pedro Martinez went to the left-field bullpen to warm up before the game, fans began chanting "Who's your dad-dy?" -- a reference to Martinez's 2004 quote, after pitching for the Red Sox and losing to the Yankees, "I just tip my hat and call the Yankees my daddy."

Those chants picked up again early in the game -- and died off as he struck out eight of the first 24 batters he faced.

Rollins seemed to promise more intensity from Phillies fans in Games 3-5 at Citizens Bank Park.

"Not that we needed any more energy," he said. "It makes it a lot more fun, because you know they're your fans, and you know how that sound can echo off your ears when they're not your fans. It can make it a little uncomfortable.

"It's going to be uncomfortable for a couple of players."

Do the Yankees know what to expect?

"Heh, heh, heh," Rollins chuckled. "We'll find out."

Phillies manager Charlis Manuel has said he doesn't mind Rollins' outspokenness.

"He likes to talk," Manuel said, "that's kind of what he likes to do. He likes the attention, and he likes everything about that."

Before the game, Rollins was asked if his lightning-rod statements are premeditated.

"I wish I was that smart," he said. "No. They happen to ask the right questions at the right time, and I'll usually do my best to tell the truth about how I feel or what I'm thinking. For some reason, people like to write about it."