Rollins takes parting shot, plus Jackson, Morse notes

The Phillies wrapped up a .500 season today with a loss to the Nationals. The year didn't go as the Phils had expected, as they relinquished the NL East crown and failed to record a winning record for the first time in 10 years. But Jimmy Rollins feels his team would have prevented the Nats from winning their first division title in team history if key guys on the Phillies' roster (Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay, Carlos Ruiz, Placido Polanco) had spent less time on the DL. "That's great for them," Rollins told Philadelphia reporters. "But with us being healthy, you know, they're still second place. But we weren't." Yeah, that comment might linger a bit. Of course, it's only fair to point out that the Nationals have dealt with their share of injuries this season, too. Here are the projected starters or significant players that missed time this season, followed by the number of games they sat out while on the DL: Wilson Ramos (128), Drew Storen (89), Jayson Werth (75), Michael Morse (50), Ian Desmond (25) and Ryan Zimmerman (13). The Nats' starting rotation has stayed healthy this season, with the exception of Chien-Ming Wang, allowing five starters to finish the regular season with double-digit wins. Edwin Jackson was the last guy to get to No. 10 today, after allowing just one run over 6 2/3 strong innings. "That's him. That's vintage Edwin Jackson," manager Davey Johnson said. "You want to finish feeling good. That was definitely a feel-good finish. Getting to 10 wins. We all wanted him to get there. He has certainly pitched better to have 15 wins as good as he's pitched." Jackson had his worst start of the season his last time out, but he bounced back, giving him something to build off going into the postseason. He said that'll help, but also added that he knows he'll be starting fresh come the Division Series. "At the end of the day, positive or not positive, you have to be mentally ready to withstand what we're about to see," Jackson said. "It's hostile environments wherever we go on the road. It's definitely an adrenaline rush, and it's definitely different from the regular season. But you have to kind of treat it as if it's the same." "It was great," Ian Desmond said of Jackson reaching 10 wins. "I think it kind of goes unseen, but Edwin has been the leader of our rotation all year long. I don't think he really minds the statistical stuff as far as ERA, wins, losses, that kind of thing. I think he wanted to bounce back from his last start, make sure his stuff is where he wanted it to be, and he did that. He came in and got a good day's work against a good team. ... It was nice to see him bounce back." On a separate note, Johnson said that Morse felt a spasm in his left hamstring when rounding the bases after hitting an eighth-inning homer. "Might be a first if somebody pulled a hamstring on a homerun," Johnson joked. Morse took to Twitter after the game, saying that the hamstring issue was, "nothing serious." Sounds like he'll be just fine for the start of the Division Series on Sunday.



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