Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Chase Utley enjoyed a fairytale return to Philadelphia on Tuesday night.
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It might have been fluttering during his first at-bat. The Giants lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-5 earlier in the day.Los Angeles won the first game of a three-game series 15-5 on Tuesday night.Tommy Joseph homered for the Phillies and Cesar Hernandez went 2-for-4 with a walk, extending his on-base streak to a career-high 23 games.Dodgers starter Scott Kazmir (10-6) scuffled through five-plus innings to pick up the victory, snapping his three-game losing streak.
“If there’s any player that you have to dig deeper than the numbers to find his value, Chase is head and shoulders above everyone else”, Roberts said. I want to have a few more starts.
Utley – as he has done so many times in his career – lived up to the moment. There were 28,118 of a possible 43,651 sold, we were told, but for just this night, the announced crowd seemed an underestimation and not an inflated one, the crescendo of each ovation exceeded only by the lung-sucking reaction that followed each of his home runs, and particularly the punctuating grand slam of an eight-run seventh inning. “I get it. But I prefer not to talk about it…”
With the pageantry of Chase Utley’s return out of the way – along with the cold, callous, 15-5 thrashing that accompanied it – the Phillies turned their focus back to baseball and their “yeah I GUESS we’re in the race” pursuit of the Wild Card.
After the first at-bat ended with a called third strike from Vince Velasquez and his second AB saw a 3-0 pop-out to short left, Utley went nuclear with two bombs in his next three at-bats. The Phillies entered the game hitting a preposterously putrid.215/.257/.308 with the bases loaded, and piled on an additional 0-for-4 Wednesday. Reliever Frank Herrmann made his club debut, striking out two in his inning of work, and that’s about as exciting as the pitching notes get for tonight.
It was another example of a player who lived for the big moment relishing the spotlight. “But I think it was something bigger tonight”, Howard said. Dayton got out of a bases loaded jam.
Thompson believes improving one specific pitch could get him back on track.
The Phillies didn’t pitch well, didn’t hit well when it counted and didn’t think well in crucial situations in this loss to the Dodgers, which means it was pretty much a typical August game at Citizens Bank Park.
With two outs and the bases empty in the second, Rupp lined Maeda’s first pitch, a curveball, over the fence in center field for his 14th homer of the season.
“It’s insane, man. I’m out there, we’re trying to beat him but it’s also tough too because I played so many years alongside him and always want to see him do well”, Howard said. “Everything happened pretty quickly previous year”.
“To me”, Utley said, “that’s a true compliment”. “I kind of expected not to really throw over here for the rest of the year, but I’m glad it’s not surgical”, Nola said. “If I had to write up a script, it would have gone a little bit different”.
Utley has adjusted to wearing the Dodger blue.
“He’s a winning player”, Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said.
That was topped in the seventh inning when Utley capped off an eight-run Los Angeles inning with a grand slam off reliever Michael Mariot into the seats in right. “He’s one of my better friends, and I’m happy that he’s playing well right now”. He’s not a very outspoken guy but he leads by his actions on the field.
“I should be thanking them”.
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Tuesday was a night when Phillies fans could remember better days. It will be his first time dressing in the visitor’s clubhouse at CBP and the fans’ first time watching him step to the plate in a different uniform. He ranks among the Phillies’ top 10 in games, hits, runs, doubles, homers, RBIs and walks. He’s always going to be a Phillie to everybody here.
