Hooray, Phillies Fans! Utley to see a specialist!
When the Philadelphia Phillies signed Cliff Lee late in 2010, there was joy across the entire tri-state area. With Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, Cole Hamels and now Lee, there was no way the Phillies could not win the 2011 World Series.
Well this is the kind of crap that could derail them. 2B Chase Utley has been dealing with patellar tendinitis and chondromalacia in his right knee all spring. The team has been downplaying it, but it just hasn’t gotten any better.
And today, Utley left the facility in Clearwater to visit a specialist.
“It’s just to have him work on some different things and improve,” general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said. “It’s just a matter of trying to get him better. We’re trying to exhaust all the possibilities to do that. We’ve been researching different ways to try to handle it and help him improve and this was just one of the ways we felt that hopefully it will help him.”
Amaro said that Utley has been making “minimal progress” in his attempt to get back on the field. He hasn’t been able to run or even field ground balls without the help of a lawn chair. We assume that he didn’t need the lawn chair’s help when running.
“We’re doing everything we possibly can to have him not get into a surgery,” Amaro said. “Until we stop seeing progress, then we’ll continue to exhaust all those possibilities.”
Sounds like surgery would keep him off the field for a large period of time.
“We don’t know,” Amaro said. “Again, the risk of having surgery kind of outweighs trying to exhaust all these other possibilities. I think that’s what Chase prefers and I think that’s what we prefer.
“I’m sure he’s frustrated. He should be frustrated. We all would, but actually his demeanor is pretty good. I know he’s disappointed he’s not playing, but he understands it and he’s being patient as he possibly can. He’s not a real patient guy, but overall he’s being pretty patient. He’s not happy he’s not playing, but he’s not distraught. Typically, he’s not happy about the things he wants to do the most.”
