Ryne Sandberg makes statement to Phillies with brutal first practice

They hit the field just after 10 a.m. and didn’t finish until 1:30 p.m.

Even then some players hit the batting cage or weight room for extra work.

The Phillies' full squad went through its first workout of the spring Tuesday. Right out of the gate, the pitchers, many of whom have been here for more than a week and are well into their throwing programs, threw live batting practice. There were base-running drills, lots and lots of ground balls (until the quads burn) for the infielders, fly balls for the outfielders and even some infield defense plays.

“Day 1 was good,” manager Ryne Sandberg said.

Before the workout, Sandberg gathered the team for the traditional first-day-of-camp speech.

Sandberg has said many times that last year was a learning experience for him and that he may have taken some things for granted. It seems as if he wants to be more firm this season. He apparently was in his first meeting.

“We had a nice meeting,” he said. “I set some parameters with things I’ll be looking for in spring training. That was loud and clear.”

The Phillies are rebuilding and are picked by almost everyone to finish last in the NL East.

Sandberg told the team that he didn’t give a hoot what the prognosticators said, he likes the talent on his roster and expects hard work and attention to the “little things.” The Phillies had a poor offensive team last year and did nothing to upgrade it this winter. Doing the little things that create runs will be crucial and instructors are drilling that into the heads of hitters this spring. Time will tell if it works.

“We have to be a good base-running team,” Sandberg said. “We have to be a good situational hitting team. But it’s one thing saying it and another doing it. We’ll stay on it and it will be a focus all spring.”

Sandberg said his speech was no more challenging because the Phillies are rebuilding.

“I didn’t feel that way at all because of the vibe I got from the veteran guys and the young players,” Sandberg said. “I’m excited about seeing these guys play. With attitude and approach, playing the game right, having unselfish at-bats — hopefully we’ll see results. You never know.”

Sandberg also focused on team unity and togetherness in his speech. That was an issue last season. (It often is on a losing team.)

“That was a message,” Sandberg said. “I told them I learned some things last year. Everyone in the room learned some things last year. Bring some togetherness to everyone in there. That’s one of the biggest things.”

Sandberg would not pinpoint what he learned last year, but he said he would make “some adjustments.”

Chase Utley went through most of the workouts but did not do base-running drills. He is recovering from a sprained right ankle suffered in mid-January, and the Phillies are taking it slow with him. Utley and team officials say his knees are fine. In fact, Utley has participated in fielding drills. He did not do that when his knees were hurting in the spring of 2011 and 2012.

-- Jim Salisbury, CSNPhilly.com