Phillies' Brown learns major league lesson

THIS WAS never going to be about the ground ball on which Domonic Brown failed to run hard on Saturday against the Oakland Athletics. He is too good a young player, with too good a reputation as a person, to let a single, thoughtless moment define him in any significant way.

It was never going to be about that one play. It was always going to be about the next play, and the next day, and the day after that. The reaction was always going to be more important than the action.

And so far?

"I liked the way he responded tonight," Phils manager Charlie Manuel said. "Yeah, I liked that."

For Brown, in the Phillies' 5-0 win over the Boston Red Sox, there was a two-run homer in the second inning and a double and a run scored in the fifth - which accounted for the crowd of reporters around his locker after the game.

But much more interesting than the recounting of those highlights was listening to Brown talk about the hours and days that followed his failure to run out that ground ball - from the postgame meeting in Manuel's office to the decision yesterday to show up early and watch extra video of Red Sox starter Josh Beckett.

"It was definitely a wake-up call," Brown said. "I wasn't even really thinking about it until I talked to Charlie. I was like, 'Man, that's not my style of play.' I rely on everything about my speed and how I go about my business the right way. Not hustling, not running balls out, that's just not Domonic Brown."

Why did it happen?

"It's frustration," he said. "Nine times out of 10, they're going to make that play routine and get it in. But that's the way God does it. He'll show you up if you show him up . . .

"I'm not perfect. Things are going to happen. I hit the ball on the screws and I looked up and it was right to the second baseman. I wasn't even thinking about, 'Dom, you need to just really take off.' I wasn't even thinking about that. Things happen."

He faced reporters the night it happened and took full ownership of the moment that got him booed by the crowd at Citizens Bank Park. Then he had his session in Manuel's office. Then there were the impromptu sessions with a few of the Phillies' veteran players, who can see Brown's ability but who also take pretty seriously the business of policing their younger teammates.

"We're not mentioning any names, but a couple of guys got on me - which is good," Brown said. "I was wrong. I was getting on myself even before anybody said anything. That's just the type of player I am.

"The veteran guys, they're going to make sure you know if you're doing something wrong - which is right."

It all has not been smooth for Brown - hands high, hands low, and a terrible spell in winter ball; hand broken, hands high, and now a slow restart to his major league career. Brown is hitting .220 with five homers and 13 RBI. His manager sees it as an acceptable break-in period for a young player.

"If you haven't played the game, you really don't understand that," Brown said. "I still talk to my dad and momma about that because they don't really understand. They're used to me hitting .600 or something like that in high school or Little League. It's not going to happen here. You have to work yourself up to be a great player, and I understand that.

"But the other day, the frustration, it'll get you."

Just to complete the circle, Brown said his father got on him about not running out the ground ball, too. You really do get the impression it isn't going to happen again.

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