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Follow The Leader
Here in Baltimore, we'd like to think that the Orioles have a new leader after the week that Nick Markakis had. First he called his team out in the Baltimore Sun and then he meets with owner Peter Angelos to put an exclamation point on his public comments.
Lost in all of that here in the Charm City, the Philadelphia Phillies saw the return of their leader, Jimmy Rollins, on Tuesday. Rollins hits a walk-off homerun in his second game and suddenly the Phillies look like a team on a mission. They've been scoring runs by the bunches and have gone 5-1 since his return.
 With all of the bashers in that line-up, it just doesn't seem like a 5'8" shortstop would make that much of a difference, but he has. True leadership has its place in sports.
On Sunday, B.J. Upton of the Tampa Bay Rays dogs it in centerfield on an extra-base hit in the gap against the Arizona Diamondbacks. After that inning, Evan Longoria approaches him in the dugout. Upton, who's played in at least parts of six seasons in the Majors, didn't take being chastised very well.
Maybe Longoria was looking at the fact that the Rays have lost seven of their last 10 and have fallen to third place in the American League East behind New York and Boston. Maybe he has a sense of urgency that you have to have while in a pennant race.
Whatever the case may be, the Rays are still a young team, and the one question mark with them is leadership. Longoria may have "taken" that position on Sunday.
 It's been said that leaders aren't appointed, they take their positon. No one in Baltimore said, "Hey, Nick Markakis is the leader of the Orioles." I'm sure Jimmy Rollins wasn't annointed by upper-management as "the guy" with Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and a cast of veterans that the Phillies have on their roster. There was something done that told everyone around them that they were going to be the spokemen for their franchises. Often, as in the cases of these three, those words are, enough is enough.
Rob Long
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