Jimmy Rollins: 2011 Phillies missed Jayson Werth

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During the Phillies' run to their 102-win season in 2011, they acquired Hunter Pence to play right field, and that trade deadline move was supposed to strengthen the team's only weakness: right field.

The previous offseason, the Phils had let Jayson Werth sign with Washington, and Werth's bat was missed. The engaging Pence immediately became a fan favorite, but it didn't matter. The fans may not have missed the irascible Werth, but the team itself did.

"He was a big piece, always was," Jimmy Rollins said last week in an interview with CSNPhilly.com's Jim Salisbury. "Hitting behind Ryan [Howard], he could hit the ball from foul pole to foul pole. He could hit the ball out from foul pole to foul pole. What he did defensively. Taking great routes. He could throw. He fit right in with the personalities we had in that club house. When he left, he left a big hole there — not only on the field but just [with] the chemistry of that team."

And that team was special. Despite its failure to win the World Series — or even get to the NLCS — Rollins looks back at the most successful run in franchise history and feels that 2011 team was No. 1.

"That was the best we were," Rollins said. "Obviously with the number of wins we had. But we came in every day, and it was like, 'Who's next?'"

Those Phils lost 60 regular-season games, and after each one, they were shocked.

"It was just amazing how we were able to, no matter what the situation was, down by four in the ninth, feeling like you were still going to win this game, and when you didn't win, it's like, 'How did we lose that game?' Rollins said. "It didn't matter if you were facing their ace, and he happened to be electric that night, we looked at it like, 'How did we lose that game? I understand he's good, but how did he beat us?"

And that certainly was the feeling for Phillies fans after they were blanked by Chris Carpenter in Game 5 of the NLDS.

"I don't have regret. It's sports," Rollins said. "We're humans, and you have to give the other team credit. They came out and they outplayed us three out of the five games. There isn't regret. Obviously I would've liked to have won more than just one (World Series). We were there at the doorstep a number of times, but with that being the best team, I feel like we didn't achieve as much as we should have.

"Not just for me — that was really a year I was looking at I'm like, 'OK, if Doc (Roy Halladay) is ever going to get his ring, this is it. This is our shot. I mean, we can be one of the best teams to ever play this game.' But it doesn't matter how many games you win in the regular season, if you're not hoisting up that trophy at the end of the season, no one remembers that."

Except in Philly.

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