Domonic Brown: Phillies 'haven't been on the same page'

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Domonic Brown probably has as much to prove in 2015 as any of the 58 players in the home clubhouse at Bright House Field this spring.

He's 2 years removed from going to the All-Star Game. He hit .235 with 10 home runs and a .634 OPS in 144 games last season.

Brown's OPS ranked 138th out of 146 qualifying major league players in 2014.

But he checked into camp yesterday, when position players were required to report in advance of today's first full-squad workout, subscribing to the power of positive thinking.

How does that work?

"Just staying positive every single day, man," Brown said. "You hear a lot of guys saying that, but are they really thinking that? It's a difference, and I want to make sure that my teammates are on the same page as me. The last few years a lot of us haven't been on the same page. I want to make sure that we're trying to win ballgames and that's my biggest goal.

"Whether I'm sitting on the bench or playing every single day, it really doesn't matter. I'm going out there and I'm making sure that I'm going to give my team a chance to win a ballgame."

So, players weren't on the same page?

This isn't exactly a revelation, as manager Ryne Sandberg said as much last month, when he acknowledged he wasn't a fan of a clubhouse dynamic he said was "not conducive to winning."

But this was the first time a player also acknowledged as much.

"I think a lot of guys weren't on the same page, man," Brown said. "Usually the Phillie way [is] playing hard, running balls out, taking the extra base. We weren't doing those little things last year, and I want to make sure that everybody's on the same page to do those little things to win baseball games, because we had that just a short period of time ago."

Someone asked whether those offenders - not running balls out, taking the extra base - were still on the team.

"We're not getting into that," Brown said.

When asked about Brown's comments, Sandberg repeated what he said in the past, that his first full season as a major league manager was a learning experience. He already has been impressed with the dynamic among his younger players who have been in Clearwater well ahead of the opening of camp, including Cody Asche and Darin Ruf.

"There were some 2-year players that were out there going about it the right way," Sandberg said. "The more that you have guys going about their business the right way and you have the right chemistry guys and the right character guys, I think that goes a long way. So I've been real impressed with everybody in camp, whether they've been just hanging out it in the locker room, around the tables talking and with the veterans also welcoming to the younger players to communicate and help them along. I think that goes a long way with bringing a team together."

Among the other position players to arrive to camp yesterday morning: infielders Maikel Franco, Cesar Hernandez and Ryan Howard.

Howard declined to talk to the media.

Howard was, however, upbeat during his first day in camp. The veteran first baseman is coming off an offseason in which he had to settle an ugly lawsuit with his family out of court over his finances and had to hear his boss, general manager Ruben Amaro Jr., tell a radio audience the team would be better without him.

"All I can say is I had a good conversation with him, and he looks good and fresh," Sandberg said. "He's well aware of some of the young talent that's out here and some of the athletic players around him, so he's in high spirits, as far as I'm concerned with my conversation with him."

Unlike with many of the other veterans in camp - Chase Utley, Cole Hamels, etc. - the team's media relations department has not set up a media session with Howard.

Outfielder Kelly Dugan arrived in camp wearing a boot on his right foot.

He'll be sidelined for the next couple of weeks with a stress reaction in his foot; he does not have any broken bones. Dugan, 24, hit .296 with a .818 OPS in 76 games at Double A Reading last season.

He has played in 76 games or fewer in three of his five seasons since being selected in the second round in 2009, the Phillies' top pick that season. Dugan dealt with an oblique injury and a broken foot in 2014.