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Phillies hammer Twins for third straight

After a report surfaced earlier in the day that he had an injured knee, Chase Utley spent five minutes before Friday night's game at Citizens Bank Park disputing the claim.

Brad Lidge high fives Brian Schneider after closing out the ninth in Friday's 9-5 win. (Ron Cortes / Staff Photographer)
Brad Lidge high fives Brian Schneider after closing out the ninth in Friday's 9-5 win. (Ron Cortes / Staff Photographer)Read more

After a report surfaced earlier in the day that he had an injured knee, Chase Utley spent five minutes before Friday night's game at Citizens Bank Park disputing the claim.

Despite the adamant support he received from manager Charlie Manuel and general manager Ruben Amaro, Utley made a much more compelling argument during the 2 hours, 49 minutes it took the Phillies to hammer the Minnesota Twins, 9-5, for their third straight victory.

Utley, who admitted to having soreness in his right knee at some point this season, looked entirely healthy in the bottom of the first inning when he stepped to the plate and lined an RBI single to right field for the Phillies' first run of the game.

The Phillies' second baseman looked even healthier in the bottom of the second when he turned on a low-and-inside pitch from the Twins' Nick Blackburn and slammed the ball into the right-field seats for a three-run home run.

Utley agreed that he liked the statement he made during the game much more than the one he made before it.

"Absolutely," he said. "Results are what matter and when you get them, people are going to be excited."

Oh, by the way, first baseman Ryan Howard's right knee and bat also appear to be just fine again. Nothing was ever wrong with Howard's right knee, but the juice in his bat had been missing during the Phillies' recent struggles.

Howard, for the first time this season and the 24th time in his career, had a multiple-home run game. The first baseman followed Utley's three-run shot with a solo homer to right field in the second inning and led off the fifth with a monster shot off the center-field ivy in the fifth. Howard also had an RBI triple in the first inning and doubled in the seventh.

He said that when Utley and the other hitters in front of him heat up it usually means he's going to see more fastballs because pitchers are worried about the Phillies' running game. Howard also said he believes the month-long lull is now officially a thing of the past. The Phillies have scored 22 runs in their last three games, which is as many as they scored during their final 13 games in May.

"I think one thing we've always been able to do is put the past in the past," Howard said. "The lull we went through this time was a little longer than some of the ones we went through, but every year we get through it."

The six hits and seven RBIs from Utley and Howard supported a much-needed victory for Phillies righthander Joe Blanton, who had been winless in his previous five outings and hideous in his previous two. Blanton, 2-5, allowed three runs on seven hits in six –plus innings. He left after former Phillie Nick Punto slammed a two-run homer in the seventh but was pleased that he induced 13 ground-ball outs.

"I did a little mechanical change to help me get down in the zone," Blanton said. "The last game I pretty much couldn't get down in the zone unless I threw it in the dirt, and that's not good. Tonight I threw a lot of ground balls and had a lot of contact."

If Utley's two hits in the first two innings weren't convincing enough to confirm his self-proclaimed clean bill of health, he might have been even more impressive in the field.

With two outs in the top of the third inning, the Twins' Denard Span hit a grounder that appeared destined for a base hit to right field. Instead, Utley made a diving stop to his left, sprang to his feet - his right knee sprang with him - and fired a strike to Howard for the final out of the inning.