Rolen fills role in Reds clubhouse

CINCINNATI - Third baseman Mike Schmidt led the Phillies to six postseason appearances during his Hall of Fame career.

Scott Rolen, who possessed the brightest future among Schmidt's successors when he reached Philadelphia in the late 1990s, wasn't quite as effective. The best finish the Phillies could manage in Rolen's five full seasons with his first major league team was second place in 2001, the year before he was traded on July 29, 2002, to St. Louis.

If Rolen finds any irony in making his first postseason appearance in Philadelphia as a member of the visiting team - in this case, the Cincinnati Reds - he isn't saying. Rolen consistently avoids about talking about his former teams. He's polite about it, but he prefers to focus on the team for which he currently is playing.

Rolen, 35, acquired by Cincinnati in an eyebrow-raising trade deadline deal last season, played a key role in the Reds' run to the National League Central Division title. Rolen hit a solid .285 with 20 home runs and 83 RBI, his highest total since 2006 with the Cardinals. His presence in the cleanup hole of Cincinnati's batting order played a major role in protecting Joey Votto, helping the first baseman pile up Most Valuable Player-caliber numbers.

"He's doing right now what I always remember him doing when I had to face him," Reds starter Bronson Arroyo said. "It's fun to have that on your side. He's a guy who changes the way guys are pitched to, and he always seems to be in the on-deck circle when it's crunch time - kind of like Albert [Pujols]. He always seems to be batting, or on the way."

Rolen, who brought seven Golf Gloves with him when he joined the Reds, also had been playing his usual impenetrable defense. Going into the regular-season finale, he ranked second among NL third baseman in fielding percentage, a primary reason the Reds were tied with San Francisco and San Diego for the team lead in defense.

The image Philadelphia fans have of Rolen is not what fans and teammates are seeing in Cincinnati. Rolen's Phillies tenure ended in acrimony with Rolen feuding with manager Larry Bowa, being criticized by senior adviser Dallas Green, angry that the team made public its $140 million contract offer, and with a teammate allegedly calling him a clubhouse cancer. Rolen was booed regularly in his final days with the Phillies and incurred the added wrath of the fans when he failed to come out for a curtain call after a home run.

Shortly after his arrival with the Cardinals, he termed St. Louis "baseball heaven." Rolen played on the Cardinals team that went to the 2004 World Series, but his relationship with manager Tony La Russa fell apart the following year with La Russa's personal and public criticism and Rolen getting benched in the 2006 playoffs.

That led to Rolen waiving his no-trade clause and landing with Toronto before the start of the 2008 season, shifting to the American League for the first time in his career. He hit .262, the lowest average of his career for a season in which he played in more than 100 games.

Despite his .320 average through the first half of the 2009 season with the Blue Jays, Rolen asked to be traded closer to home in the Midwest and waived his no-trade clause to go to Cincinnati.

Rolen grew up a Reds fan in Jasper, Ind., and maintains a home in Carmel, Ind., just outside of Indianapolis. It's common to see him hurriedly leaving the Great American Ball Park clubhouse to catch his daughter's soccer game.

"It's been great for me and great for my family," said Rolen, who was named to his sixth All-Star team this season. "I'm very comfortable here. I'm a big believer that if players are happy and comfortable in their situation, it brings out better performance from them."

Along with his role in Cincinnati's baseball renaissance on the field, Rolen's presence in the Reds clubhouse has been widely admired. He is credited by everybody from general manager Walt Jocketty - who engineered the deal that brought Rolen to the Reds - to the players for the example he sets and the quiet leadership he exerts.

"I didn't come here to be a leader," Rolen said. "I didn't come here to steer the ship and all the other stuff that you hear. I came to fit into a new ballclub and earn respect of my new teammates by respecting them and playing good baseball and being a professional, on and off the field."

Those qualities are exactly what Jocketty, the former Cardinals general manager, was looking for when he went after Rolen. Most baseball observers scoffed at the thought of a perennial noncontender giving up three players, including two pitching prospects, for an aging, expensive, injury-prone third baseman. The trade looked even more ridiculous when Rolen was hit in the head with a pitch by Jason Marquis in his second game with Cincinnati, forcing him to spend 11 days on the disabled list.

He returned to help the Reds go 25-11 the rest of the way, which turned out to be a preview of this season.

"I knew what he would bring to this club - his character, his presence in the clubhouse and on the field," Jocketty said. "He's been everything we hoped he would be."

"He just plays the game exactly how it should be played," outfielder Jonny Gomes said. "You never second-guess anything he does."

Rolen has played in 32 career postseason games, among the handful of veterans Reds players with postseason experience. Rolen, catcher Ramon Hernandez and shortstop Orlando Cabrera are the only starting position players with playoff experience and Arroyo is the only one in the starting rotation.

"He shows younger guys how to conduct yourself, which is even more important during adverse times," manager Dusty Baker said. "You can't tell if he went 10-for-10 or 0-for-10. That's especially important for younger players who can be so up and down, and their personalities go with it."