The word was Chase Utley’s foot hurt. The word was his hip hurt.
Last night, Utley made the Yankees hurt.
Utley delivered two big Game 1 blasts to send the Phillies to a 1-0 lead in the World Series. Utley hit two home runs, both off CC Sabathia and both to right field in the Phillies’ 6-1 victory.
The blasts continued Utley’s domination over New York. Across town, he hit four home runs in eight games at Citi Field this season.
Utley became the second left-handed batter in World Series history to hit two homers off a left-handed pitcher in one game. The other? Babe Ruth in Game 4 of the 1928 World Series when he hit two off Bill Sherdel.
“I guess that’s pretty good company,” Utley said.
The 30-year-old second baseman had a shaky NLCS, committing two errors against the Dodgers. There were whispers that his right foot is injured and he could not turn on it properly. He had hip surgery last winter and people still believe the right hip is bothering him.
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Utley hit .211 in the NLCS, causing some to wonder if he was slumping.
“Chase is the kind of guy where if he gets into a little bit of a funk he’s going to come out sooner or later,” Ryan Howard said. “I think people were making kind of a big deal about it. He’s been there for us all year. No one here was worried about it.”
The struggles ended in the third inning. He took the ninth pitch he saw from Sabathia and cranked it over the short right field wall. The 3-2, 95-mph fastball quieted the Yankee Stadium crowd and gave the Phillies a 1-0 lead that seemed insurmountable with Cliff Lee pitching.
The home run was the first a left-hander hit off Sabathia this season at Yankee Stadium. Entering last night, Utley was 0-for-5 with three strikeouts against the Yankees lefty.
“CC is an outstanding pitcher,” Utley said. “He’s one of the best pitchers in the game. I thought we had a decent approach against him. I don’t feel like we’re intimidated. We all have confidence. We believe that we can play with the best of them. So we’ll see how it goes.”
Utley also became the second lefty to pull off the feat in the sixth. This time it was an 0-2, 96-mph fastball that Utley blasted over the fence in right-center.
When Utley reached base in the first inning his postseason streak of reaching safely went to 26, passing Baltimore’s Boog Powell for the record.
“He’s probably going to have a good series,” Charlie Manuel said. “He works hard, he’s consistent. He’s the most prepared player I’ve ever been around.”