Thursday, April 10, 2008

April 10 -- GETTING DEFENSIVE

NEW YORK -- Ran out of real estate in the 50-center for this, so we'll toss it up here. Before the game, Charlie Manuel discussed the Phillies' surprisingly suspect defense, which committed 13 errors through the first nine games. Almost all have come from normally sure-handed infielders: Chase Utley (3), Pedro Feliz (2), Jimmy Rollins (2) and catcher Carlos Ruiz (2).

"Am I worried about it? I'm concerned about it, but I'm not worried," Manuel said. "That should tell our guys that we have to play better. We can practice all we want, but we still have to catch the ball in the game. We have to make the plays, or we're going to give up a lot of runs. The pitcher is going to be out there longer because we gave up extra outs. We get caught undecided in what we want to do, then we're rushing to make a play. That comes into the mental and physical part of it. We have to be heads up.

"You have to understand who's making the errors. If a guy is making [more errors than usual], than that's a concern. We're very good up the middle with Rollins and Utley and we should be good in center with [Shane] Victorino's speed, and [Ruiz] is coming into his own as a catcher."

OK, so Charlie isn't too worried. Are you?

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