What's Up With Philadelphia Phillies' Jimmy Rollins?

In Thursday's game vs. the Mets, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel chose to bench reigning NL MVP Jimmy Rollins because he arrived late to the game. It doesn't matter that the game started at noon, or that Rollins is not hitting nearly as well as he did last year (and Rollins was on the DL for a few weeks in April this year), but I find it hard to defend Manuel on this. J- Roll wasn't making any excuses, which was good—he says when he plays in NY he gets to the game by driving, and there happened to be more traffic than he expected. So what can the poor MVP shortstop do? It's only July, but all games against good division opponents are of great importance and significance. The fact is, Rollins is still a very good player and starting Eric Bruntlett or anyone else at SS is not a better option and decreases the likelihood of a Phillies victory. Apparently Manuel was really pissed and had a short meeting with J-Roll to try to send a message to him, using the "you can't be late to the game or ... [link]