It's looking more and more like Chase Utley is going to be ready for Opening Day. While the Phillies will be extra-cautious with their star second baseman, he appears right on schedule for a four-month return to full health. Utley has been taking ground balls during fielding practice since Tuesday and has been hitting in the cage, both off of a tee and off of soft tosses.
"I think it's pretty realisitc at this point," he said this morning. "We've pushed it over the past week and a half, two weeks that I've been down here and it's responded extermely well. We're not overdoing it yet but we are putting it to a good pace ans I think we are all pretty comfortable with it.".................
CBS wrote:Chase Utley's recovery from offseason hip surgery is nearly complete. The Philadelphia Phillies' All-Star second baseman continued his daily routine Friday and, barring a setback, should see action in his first Grapefruit League game in the next two weeks. Before the team's "B" game at Bright House Field, Utley took part in fielding and batting practice. With opening day a month away, Utley is one step from returning to game form. "Playing at game pace -- that's the last thing," he said Friday. "The only way you can really mimic that is playing in a game. We've made some progressions over the next week that are going to try to mimic that as best as possible." Utley's final rehabilitation drills will include sliding and running the bases at full throttle. Once he passes the final test of moving at game speed, Utley will being polishing his swing in games. "I don't think it's going to be a problem," he said. "But I think we have to do it before we jump into a game." (Updated 03/06/2009).
what's the latest on Utley? Is this the type of injury that could re-occur during the season? Or do most players recover pretty quickly? I saw articles comparing this type of injury to Duscherer and Lowell and that makes me nervous....
5x5 H2H, NK 10 teams C- JP 1B- Voto 2B- Zobri 3B- ARam SS- Rolins OF- J. Uptn, Choo, A. Gordn UTIL- Fielder BN- C. Crawfrd SP- Hamls, Bumgarner, Galardo, I. Kenedy, Fister, Kurda, Minr, Dempstr, Burnet, Ogando RP- Cishek, Veras, Parnel
He's progressing so well through his rehab, and it seems as if he and the Phillies are making sure to do everything right so they prevent any set backs or possible re-injury. And according to Chase, his hip started bothering him a few months into the season and you can see a correlation between his drop in numbers. So I'm guessing (and hoping) that with a full healthy season he out produces last year.
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by DbacksRback » Sun Feb 08, 2009 11:46 pm 
took him in the early 2nd round in our cafe draft....looks good right now
