Utley Continues To Impress
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Utley Continues To Impress
Marc Narducci
Nobody really knew how Chase Utley would perform after missing so much time due to knee trouble. There was a fear that he wouldn’t be strong enough to drive the ball.
Yet among all the disappointments, Utley’s impressive return has been among the positive developments for the Phillies.
Utley’s solo home run off Trevor Cahill in the fifth inning of Sunday’s 5-4 win over the Diamondbacks was his seventh in 106 at-bats. His average is up to .264, and Utley has reached base safely via hit or walk in 17 of his 20 games since the All-Star break. His on-base percentage in those 20 games is .404.
“He is swinging pretty good,” manager Charlie Manuel said. “He is showing quick hands, a quick bat.”
When asked if he is hitting better because he feels physically stronger or his swing is better, Utley says it is a combination of both.
“One has to do with the other,” he said. “I have built some more strength in my legs and I still feel like I can get stronger.”
Either way, he seems awfully confident at the plate.
“When you see him take balls down and away and hit them hard to right field, that is staying on the baseball and that is real good,” Manuel said.
Utley’s home run on Sunday went to right field.
“He has been hitting the ball on the fat part of the bat,” Manuel said. “He went through a stretch where he wasn’t getting hits and was (still) hitting the ball good.”
Now he’s getting hits, reaching base and doesn’t appear to be playing with any caution.
There are so many questions to answer for next year. If Utley remains healthy and keeps producing in this fashion, that is one less item on the Phillies worry list for 2013.
Note to all the naysayers: Chase is not done.— dasher- Too little too late.
— D. Charles Tanksley - Move CHASE to 1st base next year. Play GALVIS at 2nd- Trade HOWARD for a 3rd baseman. plus others. Use the money from his contract to come up with a centerfielder and Pitching.— tudj
- @tudj Once again, another poster who must not know how baseball salaries, performance, injuries and such work. Trade Howard for a 3rd baseman? What GM in their right mind would offer the Phillies a decent MLB 3rd baseman or 3rd base prospect for a player who's owed $100 million dollars over the next (4) years for a player coming off a major achillies injury? Sure. Let's trade Howard to the Mutts for David Wright. Sandy Alderson would do it. Right? Or, let's trade Howard to the Rangers for Mike Olt. The Rangers would do it. Maybe while we are at it we can trade Chase Utley to the Angels for Mike Trout. Then, after that, we can trade Michael Martinez to the Nationals for Bryce Harper. Because, we all know that trades are uni-directional and the Phillies can trade any player with a huge contract and over 30 to another team and can take whatever we want.
- Well, with the big caveat IF he stays healthy. Unfortunately he's doing it now when the games dont matter. He's going to play roughly half a season so it's fair to ask what will we get next year? I'm not going to pretend to know what is wrong with his knees, but safe to say it isnt something that will go away with exercise and rehab. I guess the question with Utley is really what will he have to give next year and for how many games? Since no one knows the answer it makes it tough to plan for next year.— lazyboy
- Let's hope he has figured out how to show up healthy to training camp.— Paul SoTX
- @Paul SoTX It's called spring training, not training camp. This isn't football.
- No matter what it's called, having Utley ready to play on April 1 should be among our highest priorities. If he can start even 130 of 162 games next season, that's huge. He is absolutely a class player on the field and we can't fill every position in 1 off-season. Maybe they've figured things out this time?— eman
- Howard is untradable under his current contract. No one will pay that much for a 175 strikeout machine .— Rumrunner11
- Ahhh...its back to the pre 2007 posts. Negative, negative, negative. Keep this stuff up and players will once again stay away from the City of Brotherly "Love"? Utley is hitting the ball because he was still ablt to take some swings while rehabbing his knees. For those that think he will be back next season, remember, most of us thought after last year's "elongated spring training", that would have been taken care of prior to the 2012 season. What makes ANY of us think he will be ready for the beginning of the 2013 season with the condition of his knees? As for Howard, please lets be real. Howard was NOT ready to come back to this team. He should have JUST been assigned to begin rehabbing his achilles this 1st week of August. What most of you neysayers don't realize is that Howard made the decision to try to get back due to the status of the team, thinking maybe, just maybe, he'd give the team a moral boost by coming back. Didn't happen, but why not rehab at the major league level while the season is gone? His strike out issues is simply not being MLB ready. I have no concern about his numbers next season at all. He will be in top physical condition and ready to rake with a newly revamped line up. IF (a huge if) Utley can actually play the 2013 season starting with game one, this team could be back in the fold. Halladay looked a bit sharper and of course, Lee gave up his requisite 3+ runs. If you look at Lee's history, he will be sharp as a tack next season along with a hungry Halladay, ready to roll Hamels, and healthy Worley. The 5th spot will be up for grabs. As for the rest of the line up, we know Schnieder is done (welcome to the big leagues Krats, who by the way, is raking mlb pitching). Not sure what is in store for 3B and the outfield, excpet Dom Brown WILL be the openning day LF. Mayberry Jr. is auditioning for either CF/LF, depending on who is signed via free agency. 3B will be the highest of priorities in the offseason.— drhoffman
- Yep. Players won't want to play for the Phillies because of negative posts on Philly.com
Absolutely. That's the smartest thing I've read in a long time. It has nothing to do with how much money is offered, it is how positive or negative the comments on a newspaper website end up being. That's what every player cares about most. Online message board comments. We better behave or no one will want the Phillies' money!— morningstar - I guess the Chase is finished blogs wii be put on hold. I guess the trade for Wright, Trout or whomever will continue. The negativity will continue it wont matter.— Don w
- good one drhoffman!— Ryne Duren
Utley has been much better than expected. Gives me much hope for next year.
Re Howard. I think if healthy he could help us win a lot of games in the future. BUT, if we want to deal him we can, but it would depend on a legitimate first baseman coming up from the minors ... like a power hitter with a good eye for the strike zone and a great glove ... like say ... Darin Ruf ? That would allow us to pay a big percentage of Howards contract and have money left over to sign a very good third baseman or whatever. 25 Mil for Howard or 25 Mil for Ruf and a good 3B. It's not that much of a stretch. It all depends on how Ruf progresses. IMO.— zubzub- fellas, fellas. face it: we're stuck with howard for a looong time. just consider it like a bad go on the stockmarket. rubert amansterberg, generous manager, bought far too high, and will never, as in ever, shed his satchel full of shares. so consider howard's true worth at, say, 12-15 mill a year. the team has to swallow the remaining 10-13 mill. bfd. accept that howard's agent outfoxed rubert, seemingly not a tremendously difficult thing to do, that it ain't howard's fault, and let's get on with it. the big guy's ours to keep, so write off this season, and maybe send him some good vibes starting 4/1/13, yeah?— bubba church & granny hamner
