Phillies manager Charlie Manuel doesn't know. Hitting coach Milt Thompson doesn't know. And no matter how many times you ask him - a rough tally had it at 10 following his performance in the Phillies' 5-2 win over the Mets yesterday - Chase Utley doesn't know.

"There's just certain guys," said Thompson after Utley was hit with three pitches and an errant infield throw. "They don't get out of the way. They don't care."

It may seem asinine to lead off a story of this proportion with a stat that mundane.

The Phillies had won their past eight against the Mets. The Mets were coming off a series sweep at the hands of the Braves. It was the last Opening Day in the history of Shea Stadium.

Lefthander Jamie Moyer pitched six strong innings, Tom Gordon picked up his first save since August and Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino and Jayson Werth combined for six hits.

But if Utley hadn't been plunked at the plate in the seventh, and then again by an errant throw running to second, there's a very good chance the Phillies would have lost.

Through six innings, the team had managed just three hits off Mets lefthander Oliver Perez and had barely threatened to score.

The Mets, meanwhile, took a 1-0 lead in the second on a solo home run by first baseman Carlos Delgado, the eighth of his career against Moyer. In the fourth, they made it 2-0 on an RBI groundout by Ryan Church that scored Carlos Beltran.

Though the Mets managed just four hits off Moyer, it looked for a while like it was going to be enough.

Then Utley got plunked.

Again.

The first two times it happened - in the first and the fourth innings - proved inconsequential. But as Utley strode to the plate in the seventh, Victorino was on first and Rollins was on second with one out.

The first pitch Utley saw from righthander Scott Schoeneweis hit him, loading the bases.

With that, Utley set a Phillies single-game record with three HBPs, and tied a major league record that was last reached by Nomar Garciaparra in 2006.

(Rollins, for the record, was not hit with a pitch at all, despite his notoriety in the Big Apple for a certain preseason declaration he made last year. "If anyone got hit," the shortstop said, "I thought it'd be me.")

But Utley wasn't done.

The next batter, Ryan Howard, hit a ground ball to first base that looked like a sure inning-ending doubleplay. Delgado fielded the ball and threw to second, but the ball never arrived. Instead, it hit Utley in the numbers as he ran toward the base.

The ball rolled into centerfield.

Two runs scored.

The Phillies tied the game at 2-2, and later took a 3-2 lead on a single by Werth that drove in Utley from third.

The Phillies pitching staff wrote the rest of the story.

Moyer rebounded from a rough 2008 debut to hold the Mets to two runs. He left after the sixth, and a rejuvenated Phillies bullpen handled the seventh, eighth and ninth.

Relievers Chad Durbin, J.C. Romero and Tom Gordon combined to pitch three scoreless innings, allowing three hits, one walk and striking out two.

Gordon pitched a perfect ninth to record his first save since Aug. 10 of last season. Closer Brad Lidge was unavailable after pitching in back-to-back games Sunday and Monday in Cincinnati.

Rollins, meanwhile, knocked in an insurance run in the eighth inning and finished 2-for-5while being booed at every at-bat. He left the game after the eighth because of a sprained left ankle. There is a chance he could play tonight.

"He definitely rises to the occasion here," Manuel said. "I think it brings out the best of him."

But the game ball goes to Utley.

Literally.

"It felt like maybe I had a magnet on me today," Utley said. "But it's part of baseball. It worked out for us." *

For more Phillies coverage and opinion, read David Murphy's blog, High Cheese, at http://go.philly.com/highcheese.