Phillies offense rescues Oswalt in win over Cubs

AS CHASE Utley's cleated foot touched home plate and capped a come-from-behind 4-3 victory over the Cubs yesterday afternoon, it illuminated an important nexus among the various plotlines that will dictate the fate of this Phillies team.

Last week, Ruben Amaro Jr. did his best to tamp down hopes for the coming trade deadline, saying in several interviews that he did not have the wherewithal to wield his usual midseason magi wand.

While the Phillies general manager has sounded similar refrains in the past, he has always done so with a tacit acknowledgment of his willingness and ability to upgrade in the right situation.

But with a month-and-a-half to go before the July 31 nonwaiver trade deadline, he has yet to provide such a qualifier. With a payroll that is pushing the $178 million luxury tax threshold and an operating income that as of earlier this month put the Phillies in violation of baseball's debt guidelines, Amaro claims that, this time, he really is tapped out.

Which is why attention now turns to the payroll that already exists, and the production-per-dollar it is expected to provide.

Yesterday, 35 million of those dollars combined with a seven-inning effort by Roy Oswalt (4-4) to produce a victory that made the Phillies the first 40-win team in the majors.

Trailing 3-2 with nobody out in the seventh inning, Utley lined a pitch from Sean Marshall into rightfield, moving the tying run to third while rolling into second with a double. That set the stage for Ryan Howard, who saw three straight sliders from the Cubs' lefty before knocking a fourth up the middle of the over-shift for a two-run single that proved to be the game's decisive play.

Together, Howard and Utley will average just north of $39 million dollars per year over the rest of their contracts. This season, their salaries represent 22 percent of the Phillies' total payroll, and nearly half of the roughly $81 million they will pay to the 13 hitters on their roster. The club dedicated those chunks of its financial pie with games like yesterday's in mind. Of the 12 baserunners the Phillies produced, seven came via Utley or Howard. The two stars combined to drive in or score all four of the team's runs.

Howard reached base in all four his plate appearances, going 3-for-3 with a walk. In addition to his go-ahead single, he knocked an RBI double off the base of the centerfield wall in the bottom of the first. All four of his plate appearances came against lefties, against whom he entered the day hitting .232 with a .613 OPS.

Utley, meanwhile, went 2-for-3 with a walk, scoring a run on an RBI single by Raul Ibanez in the third to go with his game-winner in the seventh.

Like Howard, all four of his plate appearances came against lefthanded pitching: first Cubs starter Doug Davis, who walked five and struck out six in five innings, then Marshall, who entered the day having allowed just two extra-base hits in 36 at-bats against lefthanded hitters.

If the Phillies really do not have the money it will take to upgrade, they will need the dollars they have already devoted to produce at a relatively equitable level.

"We need for those guys to hit just like they always have," manager Charlie Manuel said. "We need for Jimmy [Rollins] and Vic [Shane Victorino] and Ibanez and all those guys to be the same person they've been in the past."

Starting with the two players occupying the bulk of the payroll.

Out west in Milwaukee, the $27 million-per-year the Brewers committed to Price Fielder and Ryan Braun produced a .291 batting average, .395 on-base percentage and .551 slugging percentage to go with a home run every 16.4 at-bats heading into yesterday's games.

In St. Louis, $33.1 million resulted in a .302/.382/.504 line with a home run every 20.6 at-bats from Matt Holliday and Albert Pujols. Up in Boston, $40.2 million got the Red Sox .294/.338/.485 and a home run every 28.4 at-bats from Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford. Over in New York, $50 million resulted in .269/.364/.530 and a home run every 14.0 at-bats from Yankees Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira.

In Philadelphia, however, $35 million had translated into a .239 average, .332 OBP, .448 SLG and one home run every 20.7 at-bats.

The Phillies hope time will ease the disparity. Since the start of Utley's second series back with the team, he has hit .291 with a .409 on-base percentage and five extra-base hits in 13 games.

Slow starts are nothing new for Howard, who carried a .238/.326/.463 line and 13 home runs into yesterday. Through 65 games in 2008, he was hitting .214/.317/.458 with 15 home runs for the 39-26 Phils. Over the last 97 games, he hit .274/.353/.597 with 33 home runs. That season ended with a world title, the impact of which has helped fuel their current payroll.

Yesterday, that spending paid off. Now, it must continue to do so.

For more Phillies coverage and opinion, read David Murphy's blog, High Cheese, at www.philly.com/HighCheese.