Congrats to Shane Victorino and Jimmy Rollins for winning Rawlings Gold Gloves for 2008.

When Aaron Rowand headed West after the 2007 season, there were plenty of concerns about 3 voids left by his departure: lost offense, lost defense, and lost leadership.

Looking back on 2008, it’s fair to say that the Phils did ok without Mr. Rowand. They plugged CF with Shane Victorino and, while his 2008 doesn’t compare to Rowand’s career year (in a contract year) in 2007, but he outperformed Rowand in 2008 on offense AND defense. Oh, and the Phils won the World Series, too.

Granted, Rowand went to a bad SF Giants team in a park not well suited to right handed hitters. Victorino would most likely have had less impressive stats in San Francisco and Rowand a better year in Philly, but you still have to like Vic’s stats vs. Rowand’s:

I don’t get into sabermetrics much. I like to rely on what I see, and I thought Rowand’s defense slipped in 2007. I recall more than a handful of balls he should have gotten to but didn’t, and his arm is not on par with Victorino’s.

Lastly, you gotta love Victorino’s passion, and his ability to get under the opposition’s skin. He showed it throughout the year, and drove the Dodgers nuts in the NLCS.

Jimmy had another strong year at short, and certainly deserved his Gold Glove as well. We can argue that the Gold Glove is just a popularity contest (see Greg Maddux winning 18 times), but having 2 Phillies bring home the hardware is more icing on the 2008 cake.