Phillies get off to a good start, Sandberg says

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Since the Phillies completed their second consecutive 89-loss season in September, the whispers of clubhouse discontent grew louder with each passing month. Manager Ryne Sandberg acknowledged last month there were issues, and veteran outfielder Domonic Brown brought it up on Monday.

Yesterday, the first day of full-squad workouts in Clearwater, the second-year manager did what all major league managers do before the official start of a season. He gathered the team in the clubhouse for a meeting at 9:45 a.m. and delivered a speech about what he expects this spring and summer.

"I was able to set some parameters and things that I'm going to be looking for in the spring and some of the priority things," Sandberg said. "That was loud and clear. Other than that, I think it was a good day of work and got a lot of things done."

What kind of parameters?

"Just the type of team that it looks like we could have and where baseball has gotten to, as far as doing all the little things right," Sandberg said. "We want to be a good baserunning team, we want to be a good situational hitting team. It's one thing to say it; it's another thing to stay on it and have accountability on it, but also preach it every day. It's something that sometimes takes a little bit of time on some of the areas, but it's something that we'll focus on the whole spring."

When the speech was over, the Phillies took the field as a unit.

After stretching, the 58 players spread out over four diamonds that make up the Carpenter Complex. The lengthy morning and afternoon workout, which lasted well over 3 hours, included situational fielding drills and live batting practice.

"I think Day 1 was good," Sandberg said.

On his second day in camp, first baseman Ryan Howard took part in every kind of drill imaginable: hitting, running the bases, fielding ground balls and fielding pickoff throws. He was among the last players (and maybe the very last) to return to the clubhouse after extra hitting work in the Phillies' indoor facilities on the other side of the Carpenter Complex.

Howard, 35, who endured a tumultuous winter, was unavailable to the media again. But Sandberg was impressed with Howard's conditioning and agility.

"I think Ryan looked real good running the bases right away this morning," Sandberg said. "Very agile. No limp. He looked slimmer in the legs. It was good to see him the first day [of full-squad workouts]."

Ben Davis arrived in camp with fellow broadcasters Tom McCarthy, Matt Stairs, Scott Franzke and Gregg Murphy yesterday. Davis, a Delaware County native, Malvern Prep star and former major league catcher, was announced by Comcast SportsNet last week as the replacement for Jamie Moyer as an on-air analyst for the network's Phillies broadcasts.

Davis previously worked as an in-studio analyst for Comcast's pregame and postgame shows.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience," Davis said. "It's going to be a ton of fun. I just flat-out love baseball and I love talking about it. And I grew up a Phillies fan. Growing up, listening to Whitey [Richie Ashburn] and Harry [Kalas] . . . Obviously, no one can ever fill those shoes. But hopefully this will be a lasting thing for me, my family, the Phillies and SportsNet."