Ryne Sandberg Fundamentals Fundamentally Flawed

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“That’s something I like to stress — I know the importance of fundamentals…Having the drills and starting it now really gets the guys thinking. We’re going to stress them and we’re going to do them daily. We’re going to repeat them. That’s going to be a routine set in spring training. We will do them throughout the season. It’s really creating a routine so the players will adapt to it and get used to it.”

That quote above was from Ryne Sandberg during his first Spring Training last year. FUNDAMENTALS. He knows the importance of them. That was supposed to be one of the major differences between Sandberg and Manuel. Sandberg would stress fundamentals and get this declining Phillies team to get back to basics…fundamentals.

I sat in my $37 seat for last night’s game against the Florida Marlins in unseasonably cold April winds and rain. I paid $13 for a beer, twice. For that, I got to watch a team that looked fundamentally pathetic.

I don’t expect much offensively. This team doesn’t have anything offensively going on. They rank last or close to last in every major offensive category. What I witnessed in the field, though, was atrocious. If Ryne Sandberg can’t get his team to play fundamentally sound baseball, I don’t know what else he brings to the table.

Last night I saw the Phillies surrender 5 walks while the Marlins surrendered zero. I saw a run-scoring balk. I saw three pathetic errors. That’s a complete lack of fundamentals.

Ryne SandbergI’m not a Sandberg fan. I still believe this was the franchise’s attempt to make up for the mistake of trading him. The Cubs passed over him twice as manager. Why?

In 2013, the Phillies ranked 13th in MLB in errors. Most of that year was under Charlie’s management. So far this year, the Phillies have committed 15 errors in 15 games. That currently ranks 2nd in MLB. That’s also a pace for 162. The most team errors in the past ten years was 143 committed by the 2009 Nationals.

The Phillies have allowed 61 BBs through the first 15 games. That ranks second and puts them on pace for 658. That would be 102 more than in 2013. I understand that Manuel had Cliff Lee pitch 222 innings in 2013 so the comparison isn’t completely fair. However, Manuel and Rich Dubee did have Jonathan Pettibone, Kyle Kendrick, John Lannan, and Tyler Cloyd toss innings that year.

The Phililes are an embarassment. The job by Ruben Amaro is nothing more than abysmal. Ryne Sandberg isn’t doing much better, in my opinion. Yeah, the talent sucks, but he should have the fundamentals solid and they players’ heads in the game.

The Phillies front office stinks, the team stinks, and so do Ryne Sandberg’s fundamentals. This franchise needs to clean house from the President to the bat boys. Well, okay, keep the bat boys….and the ballgirls…and the Phanatic. Nothing else!