Werth's miscues costly for Phillies

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Jayson Werth had a couple doubles and a walk in the World Series opener.

Game 2 showed how quickly things can change in baseball.

There was a long list of reasons why the Phillies lost, 4-2, to the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field last night. But the fact that Werth had a tough day at the office didn't help.

Second baseman Akinori Iwamura and B.J. Upton led off the bottom of the first with singles against Brett Myers. Werth fumbled the ball and both runners advanced on the error.

If he had fielded the ball cleanly and kept the runners at first and second, Myers may have been able to get out of the inning. Pitch selection changes with different situations, so it's impossible to say exactly how events would have unfolded.

But when Carlos Pena followed with a grounder to second, it could have been a doubleplay that left a runner on third. And then when Evan Longoria followed with a grounder to shortstop, it could have been the end of the inning.

Instead, those two grounders gave Tampa Bay a quick 2-0 lead.

One thought was that Werth is not used to playing on artificial turf, but he said that wasn't the reason.

"I think it was more a case of trying to be overaggressive," he said. "I was trying to keep the runner from going to third, or at least the runner from going to second. Usually you play it off to the side, spin and throw to second. But I tried to do too much. If I made the play, it probably would have been a pretty good play."

The Phillies were trying to construct a rally against Rays starter James Shields in the fifth. Werth singled to put runners on first and second with two outs when Chase Utley hit a drive to right.

Rocco Baldelli made the catch . . . and then doubled Werth off first to end the inning.

"It was just a ball that you go halfway on," he said. "I read the outfielder. He was coming hard. If it short-hops him, you can't get thrown out at second. If he catches it, you can't get doubled off first.

"After it was over I looked at my marks in the dirt. I had gone like a half-step past the halfway mark. And that was the difference, really."

It may not have been the difference in the game. But it didn't help. *