Jimmy Rollins gets an early look at K Rod.

Sooner or later there would be a meeting between Mets new closer Francisco Rodriguez and the Phillies Jimmy Rollins. Well during the USA vs Venezuela game it came during the 9th inning.

Of course this was not during a heated summer battle between the 2 clubs. Actually in a WBC, that did not matter who won since they were both going to the second round, it did seem that one was eyeing the other.

K Rod who is still trying to work on location early in the spring seem to have Rollins fooled on a nice changeup. He eventually walked Rolling on a 3-2 fast ball outside. Rollins did not take to long once reaching 1st by stealing second. So we can get an idea that the Mets will need to hold runners close when K Rod gets men on . This seems to be a down fall with a lot of closers. K Rod did get the save though in a 5-3 victory when Jeter was thrown out attempting to steal and Youkilis was struck out.

In a related note MLB announcers Victor Rojas and Joe Magrane worked the game. In my opinion Magrane should be banned from working games. He made a reference to a swing in a miss by a batter and related it to Linda Ronstadt’s song blue bayou. Joe tailored it by saying blew by you. There was a deafening silence from Rojas