The Philadelphia Phillies’ Chase Utley is so old-school that he comes to the plate at Citizens Bank Park to the guitar strains of Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir.” What usually follows is the loud crack of his bat and deafening cheers from the crowd.
Otherwise, Utley is a pretty quiet guy. He prefers to let his play do the talking for him.
Or the public, which submitted 3,889,602 votes for Utley, the most of any player in the National League and second only to the New York Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez (3,934,518). This will be Utley’s third consecutive All-Star appearance, all as the starter at second base, and he’s not likely to be stepping down anytime soon.
Not that Utley was very interested in chatting about the feat. Soon after the announcement last Sunday, he was looking forward more finally to setting foot in The House That Ruth Built.
“I’ve never been to Yankee Stadium,” Utley told reporters. “I’m excited to see it, to walk around and enjoy it. It should be fun.”
Much like this year’s first half for Utley, whose 25 home runs are third in the NL and just seven short of his single-season high. He’s neck-and-neck with teammate Ryan Howard, more of the beefy-slugger type, and Utley is on pace to become the third NL MVP to come from the Phillies in three years. Howard earned the MVP in 2006 and Jimmy Rollins took the honor last season.
There’s another title Utley will be chasing during All-Star week, and that’s the Home Run Derby crown. As the current NL leader, Utley had to expect an invitation. A number of players have shied away from the competition, but Utley didn’t sound too worried about any bad habits developing for the second half.
“I don’t really consider myself a home run hitter,” Utley said recently. “But it’s one day. It’s one round of basically batting practice. You adjust it a little bit, but I don’t think it’s going to affect my swing at all.”
Utley smashed a total of six home runs in five consecutive games from April 17-21, and four of those came against the New York Mets, including two in the Phillies’ 5-4 victory on April 20. He also had nine RBI during that stretch, a hot streak that had his teammates watching in awe from the bench.
“I don’t think you ever expect it,” Rollins said. “But every time he came up, we were thinking there was a chance of something good happening. He’s the guy you want up in big situations.”
During the winter, the Phillies made sure that Utley, 29, would keep doing that for many seasons to come. GM Pat Gillick quickly moved to lock up Utley with a seven-year, $85 million extension that the second baseman signed Jan. 21, the day after his wedding.
The Mets did similar deals with their young stars, David Wright and Jose Reyes, but neither contract approached those numbers.
Utley was the 15th overall pick in the 2000 draft, and after only four full seasons in the majors, that’s all it took for the Phillies to realize he was a cornerstone of the franchise.
“Chase is a very special individual,” Gillick said at the time. “The one thing about Chase is, he puts up very good individual numbers, but he’s a team player. Even though sometimes you’re not fond of long-term deals, there are exceptions to the rule, and I think Chase is one of them.”
If Rollins is the vocal sparkplug of the Phillies and Howard is the hulking intimidator, then Utley fits the role of the strong, silent type.
To manager Charlie Manuel, he’s about as low-maintenance as a player can be. Just put him in the lineup and watch him dismantle the other team.
“He’s a very hard worker, always prepared,” Manuel said. “The kind of guy you love to have on your team.”
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