Phillies’ fielding off to frustrating start


PHILADELPHIA — Though the Philadelphia Phillies were trending down for the past few years, for the most part, they were a solid defensive team.

Now, even that aspect of the ballclub is falling apart. After committing three errors Wednesday night, they followed that up with two more Thursday afternoon, as well as a few other mental mistakes that cost them in a 9-1 loss to the Miami Marlins.

“You definitely have to learn from some of the things we did today,” first baseman Darin Ruf said. “We made way too many mistakes defensively. You’re not going to win too many ballgames when you’re giving up as many baserunners as we did.”

Last year, the Phillies were fourth in the majors in fewest errors (83) and were second in fielding percentage (.987), a highlight on a team that finished 73-89. Of the 10 teams in the franchise’s history with the fewest errors in a season, seven of them came in the last 10 years.

This season, they Phillies already have 17 errors through 16 games, the highest total in the majors. Second baseman Chase Utley, who is averaging around 10 errors per season in his dozen years in the majors, already has three. Four other players have two errors.

Ryne Sandberg, now in his second full season as the Phillies’ manager after taking over for Charlie Manuel late in 2013, has talked about working on the fundamentals ever since taking the job. However, with a mix of aging veterans well past their prime and inexperienced youth out in the field, there is only so much the nine-time Gold Glove award winner can do.

“It’s frustrating, it really is,” Sandberg said. “We’ve worked at it, we’ll continue to work at it, but fundamental baseball is a priority, making the routine plays is a priority, hitting the cutoff man is a priority, so it’s been disappointing the last two games.”