
August 20

Twitter not as appealing as it once was to Phillies

PHILADELPHIA — Kevin Frandsen liked Ryne Sandberg's proclamation that Aug. 16 would be "Charlie Manuel Day."

The Phillies infielder was so keen about his new manager's declaration that he posted his support of it on Twitter.

"Agree with Ryno, this is Charlie Manuel Day! Meant so much to me as a player, but meant more to city of Philadelphia and this org! #classact"

The next day, Frandsen found himself debating someone on Twitter about his tweet, something he originally thought would be embraced by the fan base.

"You and your fellow players are responsible for this with the way you played," one fan, who is listed as a motor sports reporter and photographer on weekends, tweeted to Frandsen.

Frandsen responded by saying, "yep and ur responsible for writing about drag racing. Keep it at that or have the stones to come say it to us not on twitter."

The conversation continued for a couple more tweets. The man never did say it to Frandsen's face.

"A lot of people on social media sites are fake because they get to hide behind anonymity," Jimmy Rollins said. "You could put a picture of a piece of dirt and a fake name and say what you want to say. They aren't really people on twitter. You understand that and you don't let it bother you."

That's easier said than done for most people. Although Rollins hasn't fired back in any way to his followers, Frandsen and Justin De Fratus have in different ways. It's understandable.

"If someone writes to me, I'll give it back," Frandsen said. "Hey, you know what? I'm not going to take it."

It's not the first time, and it won't be the last time, a back-and-forth Twitter debate with an accusatory undertone went on between a player and someone else. De Fratus has gotten so frustrated by it that he's thought about de-activating his account. Jimmy Rollins grew so tired of the whole charade that he rarely even signs on to his Twitter account anymore.

All three players signed up for different reasons. Rollins was advised to do it for business and marketing reasons. De Fratus thought it would be fun to interact with the fans who come to the ball park to cheer for him and his teammates.

Frandsen said he wanted to have easier access to larger news organizations such as ESPN, USA Today and CNN. Plus, he liked the idea of being able to follow his favorite teams: the San Francisco 49ers, the Golden State Warriors and the San Jose Sharks.

It's backfired for all three of them.

Frandsen has been attacked on Twitter for not being a real Phillie because he makes it known what other professional teams he cheers for. In 2011, the year he joined Twitter, he got death threats after he was suspended for testing positive for a banned substance, Ritalinic Acid, which is very similar to Ritalin.

De Fratus has been torn to shreds for throwing one bad pitch. Sometimes he finds himself feeling the fans' wrath for the way things have gone as a whole for the Phillies this year. It's upsetting for the reliever.

"I'm still a human being and I'm not saying I don't deserve anything like that," De Fratus said. "But at the end of the day, there are still temptations of responding that you have to fight off. You have to make yourself bigger than that. Sometimes I do give in and I do respond."

De Fratus, an upbeat, approachable guy, was candid with a tweet he posted to his followers about a week ago. He just wanted to clear the air with the hope that some of the negativity would subside.

"Enough with the hate, people. I pride myself in giving you all everything I have every single time out. I don't bad mouth anyone and I make a point to be as fan friendly and approachable of a player as I can be. Lets make twitter an enjoyable tool. Not a place of hate & stupidity"

Although Rollins has nearly 183,000 followers, he has tweeted just three times since July 4. He said the initial excitement for him simply wore off, and he has no desire to share private information on social media, something that is seemingly growing more popular by the hour.

"For those who are public for the world to see, why do you want everyone to know what your family is up to," Rollins said. "I don't understand why people want to do that."

De Fratus doesn't understand why people spend so much time ripping players. It comes down to the old adage: If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all. He's accepting of the critical tweets he gets from teenagers, because as he said, many of them don't know any better. It's the adults, mostly men, who rip him and the team apart that baffles him.

"At first, the people who followed you were actually nice fans," De Fratus said. "They were excited. There was always positive interaction and that's what hooks you. You're like, 'Hey, this is cool. I get to talk to the fans in a more personal way.'

"[Now] it just seems to be that every single clown are the ones who write. Do I go home and think about it at night? No, not really. But when I sit there and read it, I think, 'What's the point?' "

So I couldn't help but wonder why De Fratus' Twitter handle is still alive and kicking.

"There's way more nice people than there are bad," he said. "I wouldn't be on there if it weren't for the positive ones. The positive ones are canceling out [the negative ones]."

As for Sandberg, despite getting pressure from his five children to join either Facebook and/or Twitter, the 53-year-old has no desire.

"I don't see why I need to share every thought or some thought I have on a subject and throw it out there," he said. "I think, for me, I see only bad things happening from that. And Facebook, talk about not having any privacy."

Although Sandberg is free of the social media world, it's not something he discusses with the team. The organization handles that during spring training, and there was even more of an emphasis on it this year after one former reliever announced the call-up of a Lehigh Valley IronPig on Twitter before the team made the information public.

"That's a bad thing that can happen from it," Sandberg said. "The whole organization learned from it. But he's still twitting too. The good, the bad and the ugly."


Twitter @inthephilshouse


100: RBIs by Arizona's Paul Goldschmidt, which leads the National League entering Saturday's play. He also is tied for the NL lead in home runs with 31, is second in slugging percentage (.541) and 14th in batting average (.300). Detroit's Miguel Cabrera leads the AL in the same two (of three) Triple Crown categories.


Reliever B.J. Rosenberg, a Virginia native, pitched in the amateur Alaska Baseball League. … Infielder Kevin Frandsen's parents both attended and played sports at San Jose State University. Frandsen also attended SJSU. … Pitchers Tyler Cloyd and Jake Diekman, both from Nebraska, were signed by Jerry Lafferty. … Jimmy Rollins has the second-best all-time fielding percentage (.983) for shortstops who have played at least 1,000 games.


Vance Worley. The right-hander, who finished third in the rookie of the year voting in 2011, struggled to a 1-5 record with a 7.21 ERA this season. In 48 2/3 innings in 10 games, Worley, sent to Minnesota in the Ben Revere trade, allowed 82 hits, walked 15 and struck out 25. For Rochester, Worley is 6-3 with a 3.88 ERA in nine games.

Copyright © 2019, The Morning Call