Immediately, silent alarms went off. Forget the most advanced telecommunications devices that have been invented.
Nothing spreads news faster than the baseball grapevine.
Now, the Phillies had tried to keep Abreu's punctuality from being an issue this year. Oh, how they tried. The truth is, however, that one of the team's best players found himself in hot water for being tardy on numerous occasions last year. He was talked to, fined and even benched for two games in mid-June for being late to the ballpark. In September, when the problem resurfaced, former manager Terry Francona reportedly even tried to send him home from the park for the day, only to be overruled.