"Are you surprised?" said Jayson Werth, who had an inside-the-park homer in last night's 9-5 Phillies victory over the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. "Chase is one of the best players in the game. Period. If he didn't get hurt last year, it would have been interesting on who would have been the MVP."

Utley hit a solo homer in the sixth inning to cut the Rockies lead to 5-4. He has homered in five straight games to tie a franchise record with Bobby Abreu (2005), Mike Schmidt (1979) and Dick Allen (1969). He is hitting .476 (10 for 21) with six homers and nine RBIs.

But Utley's biggest play came in the third inning when the Rockies had the bases loaded with one out. He speared a ball out of thin air that Clint Barmes hit off the mound and turned it into a memorable, rally-killing double play.

Utley practically went horizontal in the air to make the play.

"It was amazing," righthander Kyle Kendrick said. "That changes everything. That could have been two runs right there and the inning is still going. I was trying to get a ground ball. Utley made a great play. That was the play of the game for us. I told him after the game, 'Thanks a lot.' "

"The ball kind of took a funny hop off the mound," Utley said. "It hung up in the air. I got lucky and caught it. I felt like I had a bead on it the whole time. It did take that hop. It worked out. It was bases loaded. It kind of slowed them down a little bit."

Utley and Pat Burrell continue to carry the Phillies offensively. Utley went 2 for 5 with a double and homer. Burrell went 3 for 4 with a two-run homer in the fourth inning to cut the Rockies' lead to 3-2.

But while Utley and Burrell remained two of the hottest hitters in baseball, it was Carlos Ruiz's two-out, bases-loaded double to right in the eighth that handed the Phils a 6-5 lead.

Ruiz entered the at-bat against Rockies lefthander Brian Fuentes hitting just .196.

Manager Charlie Manuel could have pinch-hit Chris Coste for Ruiz in that situation, but he said he had a hunch. So did Ruiz.

"I was telling myself, 'This is the time to pick them up. You can do it,' " Ruiz said. "Get a big hit right here and we've got a good chance to win the game."

He got it and the Phillies won to improve to 10-10. If they win tonight, they can move over .500 for the first time this season.

at 215-854-4874 or tzolecki@phillynews.com.

Read his blog at http://go.philly.com/phillieszone.