"During this trip back home, Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins is getting a full taste of The City. He gets a chance to have a BBQ with his family. He even had the opportunity to visit the Twitter headquarters in downtown San Francisco. This trip back to the Bay is his first since a playoff showdown against the Giants ended in defeat.

Rollins exudes the East Bay. The Encinal High School product was a huge A's fan growing up. He idolized Rickey Henderson and even appeared in MC Hammer music videos.

So you would think that losing to the cross-town Giants in last year's NCLS would leave a lasting sting. "No, not at all," Rollins said on Friday. "It was good for the Bay Area. I've been on that side and I noticed that it has been such a long time since they won a championship".

Of course it wasn't as easy to swallow for everyone in the Rollins family. "Maybe for my mom and dad. You know, because they have to go to work. They work with Giants fans and they finally got a chance to, I guess, rip them."

Growing up during the '80s, it was all A's for Rollins. It was easy to follow the iconic Henderson and his base-stealing ways. When the A's won the World Series in 1989, Rollins was 10 years old and he watched Rickey run and the Bash Brothers bash and that's all he watched."