The Official Site of Chase Utley

Fri, May 22nd 2009, 09:56

Ailing or not, Utley lifts Phils to victory

Chase Utley might never tell his manager how much his foot has bothered him for the last 21 days, but Charlie Manuel said he believes the injury has hampered his second baseman’s May performance.

When he first hurt it, “yeah, it affected him,” Manuel said after Utley went 3 for 4 with four RBIs in yesterday’s 12-5 win over Cincinnati at Great American Ball Park. Utley doubled, singled, homered, and hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning that allowed the Phillies to increase a shrinking lead.

The Phils snatched their second consecutive road series after sweeping Washington in four games last weekend, although the victory came despite many imperfections on both sides and another middling performance by a Phillies starting pitcher. Joe Blanton allowed five runs in five innings to gain the win as the Phils improved to a major-league-best 14-5 on the road this season.

Utley carried the team to the victory. Before yesterday, when he had just his third multi-hit game since April 29, Utley’s batting average had fallen 67 points since May 1. On that day New York Mets pitcher Mike Pelfrey hit Utley in the right foot with a sinker.

Utley is famously reluctant to discuss any injury, even with Manuel.

“As far as I know, his foot is back,” Manuel said. “I don’t know if it’s 100 percent or not, and I don’t think he’ll ever reveal that to me. He would tell me 100 percent. . . . He is running better, though.”

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