Break up Chase Utley!
The Phillies wonderful second baseman hit a home run for the fifth straight game, his major league leading ninth overall, and made a stupendous defensive play to prevent the Rockies from blowing the game wide open early as the Phils came from behind to beat Colorado 9-5 at Coors Field. What a way to begin a tough road trip.
As we said last week, Utley's defense may not be his strong suit but one area with the glove where he excels is getting to the ball. His gem -- a flat out dive and toss to begin a double play -- had teammates searching for superlatives after the game. Naturally, Utley himself downplayed the glove save.
We all bitch and moan (yours truly with the best of 'em) about the Phillies' failure to put everything together in April, but it is difficult to ignore their resilience in the face of adversity, having lost their heart and soul in Jimmy Rollins along with another spark plug, especially in the field, in Shane Victorino. While Utley is deservedly getting most of the bytes for his torrid hitting, the most unsung hero of the season thus far has to be Pat Burrell, who continues to get on base and deliver the big blows when most needed. His two-run homer last night brought the Phils back from a 3-0 deficit and set the stage for the later heroics of Utley, Jayson Werth, who hit an inside-the-park home run, and struggling Carlos Ruiz, who drove in the winning runs. (Rockies' center fielder Willie Taveras, who can go get the ball, unfortunately cannot throw it once he does. A pitiful 50-foot relay throw to the cutoff man, on one bounce, aided Werth immensely.)
On a ongoing sour note, the Phils committed three more errors last night. Their atrocious fielding remains a big mystery.
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