Waiting for Utley: Maybe it is that simple
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Waiting for Utley: Maybe it is that simple
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
One of these days, I'm going to enroll in grad school and study pyschology or sociology and write my thesis on the phenomenon that is the city of Philadelphia's massive man crush on Chase Utley. Don't get me wrong. I have a great appreciation for the type of player that Utley is. You need only look to the diving play he made yesterday afternoon, or his slide tackle of Hanley Ramirez earlier in the week, to see some reasons why it is fun to watch him play baseball.
But it is still amazing to me how a sporting public that is considered among the toughest in the country is so quick to ignore the fact that Utley, like 99 percent of baseball players, will sometimes drop into a slump.
When Ryan Howard doesn't hit, it is because he swings at bad pitches out of the zone.
When Jimmy Rollins doesn't hit, it is because he is impatient at the plate.
When Jayson Werth doesn't hit, it is because he is swinging for a new contract.
But when Utley doesn't hit, he must be hurt.
I mention all of this because right now, the Phillies might be a No. 3 hitter away from getting back into an offensive groove.
The player hitting behind him in the line-up, Mr. Howard, has 13 hits, six of them for extra bases, in 43 at-bats over 11 games in June.
The player hitting in front of him, Placido Polanco, has 13 hits in 33 at-bats in June.
Utley, meanwhile, has six hits in 38 at-bats in June, with only two of them going for extra bases.
Since May 16 in Milwaukee, Utley has played 24 games, hitting 14-for-85 (.165) with four extra base hits, one of them a home run, four RBI, 11 walks and 10 strikeouts.
There is a school of thought that the Phillies' line-up goes as Jimmy Rollins go. But I think history will show that Utley is of equal importance, and given the fact that Rollins has spent much of the last three-plus weeks hurt, and Utley has spent much of the three-plus weeks slumping, maybe there really is no further explanation needed for the Phillies' offensive woes.
The only way that can be construed as bad news is if Utley really is hurt, which has been the theory du jour every time he has slumped over the past three years. In 2008, he really was hurt. Last season, he was banged up with a foot injury, although I don't think he was nearly as limited as he was in 2008.
This year, however, there have been no indications that he isn't healthy.
The fact is, Utley has gone through slumps like this before. This one is just magnified because it has happened early in the season, and thus has had a bigger impact on his overall numbers (he is hitting .256 at the moment), and because Rollins is out.
In his last 31 games of last season, Utley hit .193 with eight extra base hits, two of them home runs.
In his last 31 games this season, Utley is hitting .225 with eight extra base hits, two of them home runs.
The difference between Utley's slump this year and his slumps in 2008 and 2009, when he might have been hampered by physical problems, is that he is making much better contact. In 111 at-bats over the last 31 games, he has struck out just 15 times, an average of once every 7.4 at-bats. In the last 31 games of last season, he struck out 21 times in 114 at-bats, an average of one every 5.4 at-bats.
Over the last five months of 2008, when he battled hip problems that eventually led to surgery, Utley averaged a strikeout every 5.6 at-bats.
In 2008 and 2009, there was at least a tacit acknowledgment by the Phillies that Utley's hip and foot were affecting his performance. This year, I've heard nothing about potential injuries greater than the day-to-day soreness that will plague anybody who plays as much as he does (and, for that matter, most ballplayers do). And the fact that he has still made decent contact suggests to me that his current funk is nothing more than a normal dip in production combined with an extra helping of bad luck.
The good news is that Utley has been known to snap out of his slumps with a vengeance, and that there doesn't appear to be a reason why his production won't return to equillibrium, meaning he just might spend the second half of the season on a ridiculous tear.
The bad news, of course, is that until he does, the Phillies are a good bet to continue to struggle to score runs.
Donovanhasarealteamnow --- your a clown...that 25million to Ryan is well deserved..Utley needs rest, PERIOD.. ..your the clown..know your facts before you start jumping off the ship..RAT— phillyfanyo- Two interesting comments ...his slump started around the time of the binocular find, and Chase getting a Divorce...the binocular thing seems a little off base. Does anyone really think that if the binoculars were being used to steal signs, that someone would not have seen this years ago? Also, with all the guys who have left the team since 2008, not one of them would rat out the team? As far as the divorce goes..didnt he just do a SPCA even with his wife? This can be looked up in public record and I have seen no proof of this.— jphil
- Charlie and Ruben well know that Utley needs to rest periodically. This is difficult since Rollins and Polanco have been out, and the subs are used to play shortstop and third. Whenever Chase sits, he follows up his rest with an impressive few games. There is clearly something physically wrong with him which he is not acknowledging. You do not go from being a lifetime .300 hitter at age 31 to batting .256 because pitchers are fooling you or because your eye-hand mysteriously disappears. Being tired at the end of a season has also been his M.O., which is why he needs to rest periodically throughout the season. Otherwise, he wears down. He plays the game HARD and it takes a toll by the end of the season - even when he doesn't play hurt and aggravate injuries, as he is now. He needs to sit. Now.— Scoop
- Lonewolf what are you talking about ? David Herndon as the #1 pitcher. What are you smokin' ?— fshldy1
- Lonewolf 10 that was the worse garbage I think Ill ever read....— Philly Phanatic
- Why some fans (and a lot of media people) refuse to acknowledge that Jimmy Rollins is the leader of this team and someone that leaves a huge void when he's gone is beyond me...I truly do not understand it. Remember back to 2006 and 2007? The Phillies had talent, but not the confidence that they could beat the Mets. What did Jimmy Rollins say before the 2007 season? "The Phillies are the team to beat in the NL East." As soon as Rollins uttered this and then backed it up by winning the National League MVP award, the team changed it's mindset and won the East at the very same time the Mets collapsed. How about game 5 of the National League Championship series last season against the Dodgers: Rollins smacked a key two-run double that gave the Phillies a dramatic 6-5 victory in Game 4. Whether it be 2007, when Rollins hit playoff home runs against the Rockies or this hit, he plays much better when everything is on the line. Said outfielder Shane Victorino: "He's the leader of this team, and that hit (2009 NLCS double) couldn't have happened to a nicer guy." Even Charlie Manuel noticed the change in attitude of his team...and my feeling (as well as that of baseball analysts) is that comes directly from Jimmy. Utley is the poster-boy of the Phillies. He's what we thought Von Hayes was going to be. Utley looks the part...A Hollywood screewriter would pick any guy named Chase, who has a very nice personality. Rollins is the real "behind the scenes" do anything to win leader of this team... make no mistake about it. When he's healthy and back in the lineup, watch this team go on another run. In the meantime, take a good long look at the Phillies without Jimmy. If you think you don't need his leadership, then you must enjoy being in 3rd place. He is the Barry Larkin of the Phillies.— 21stCentury
- lonewolf, as Yoda might say, "Clever, are you not!" Ya gotta get out of the bushes and return to the wild before they find ya and put ya to sleep!— lefty
- Yes, he gets into slumps every year, but Utley hasn't been right since he had the "flu", where he wasn't in the lineup for a couple of games. He seems to be making decent contact, but as El Zorro said, he looks weak, and the ball isn't going anywhere. He's also late on alot of fastballs that he normally would be crushing. Whatever that "flu" was, it looks like he hasn't regained his strength. The Phils need to get him thoroughly examined and find out what the hell is going on. At the least Charlie should make him sit for 2 or 3 games.— nellar
- The Phils averaged nearly nine runs a game in the four games after the "binocular incident." Their slump actually started more than a full week later (when no one was even talking about it any more). Next kooky conspiracy theory, please.— GoPhilsGo
- Dave, could you please investigate a simple fact? The fact is (and don;t make any mistakes about it, it's a fact) that Phillies stopped hitting since they were accused of stealing signs. And, apparently, it wasn't the first time they were accused of this. It could be a coincidence, but they've been slumping for a long while now. Usually, it's one player, two players. But the entire team? It smells if you asked me.— hollandpa
Comment removed.- there's ALWAYS an excuse for poor lil Utley
- If you look at his swing it is completely different. When utley is hitting well he has a short compact swing requiring hip and shouder explosion. That swing is gone, and my gues is that we will be hearing about another surgery in the off season.— Rays trash
- Comment removed.
- I am not afraid as I have said before why utley always gets a pass..it is because he is a white man rollins and howard are from the black race and whites and their kind have historically been biased, racist and down right EVIL towards blacks much of it because blacks are the oldest people on the planet period..deal with it bigots, blacks had the 1st civilizations on the earth and whites and their kind know this and more and can't stand it, too bad. utley needs to be moved down in the order to maybe 7th or 8th he is in a BIG slump, manuel moved rollins the best all-around player on the team down in the order and even benched him last year because of his slump. many of you racist bigoted morons even claim that because howard is making more money than utley is the reason utley is slumping..you idiots just don't have a truthful bone in your entire body, utley's avg has been dropping for the past 3 seasons he is NOT the only player on the phils who play's hard misanthropes, stop seeing your own LIES as TRUTH..doubt very seriously that you can do that.— only 9
