Look at this abomination of a t-shirt please:

Dear Lord, where to begin?

First off, that’s the same Chase Utley picture that we use in The Fightins banner at the top of the site (meaning, it’s old), the singular usage of “cheesesteak” is utterly fascinating, Chase Utley isn’t even a Philadelphia export (we got him from Cali), and I don’t know what the fuck they’re so excited about using that exclamation point. Seriously, I’d be offended if those bootleggers outside CBP tried to sell that garbage to me for $5, but Modell’s? They should be ashamed of themselves.

(I want it soooo bad.)

I know this is the second Chase Utley/flashback-themed post in a row, and yes, I pulled both off them off the same “The Chase Rolls On” show that featured Utley’s first MLB hit, but believe me — it’s worth it.

This quote from Phillies skip Charlie Manuel was actually featured on this here website back in September of ‘08 when Chase Utley barreled over Jesus Flores of the Nats trying to score from 3rd on a throw over to first and consequently knocked Flores out of the game, but I never had video footage of it. [On aside: I highly recommend going back and reading the whole post. It's easily one of the funniest comment threads of all-time. Some Nats blogger named Steven accused me (us?) of cheering the injury (which I didn't) and then started rambling on about how Cole Hamels was gonna get injured because he had so many IP and how Brad Lidge would never keep his save streak going, blah blah. It's even funnier in retrospect because Hamels went on to win World Series MVP and Brad Lidge went 48-for-48. HAHA YOU SUCK STEVEN. Just read it.]

Anyway, after the game, Charlie Manuel was asked his thoughts on Chase’s aggressive play.

His response:

“That’s not old school, that’s good school. That’s the way you play the game unless you want to put some rouge and makeup and lipstick on.”

That’s great, right? Well, what if I told you the video of it was 100000X better?

Watch (In HD, if that’s your thing):

Look how angry that question made him! He had an underbite he was so mad! Awesome.

Seriously, when he goes into his imitation of a nancy-boy, like, “Ewwww I gotta run over this guy” I fell in love with Charlie all over again.

Let us hark back to the time when a 24-year old upstart named Chase Utley got called up to the bigs for the first time, shall we?

Early on in the season in 2003 — April 15th to be exact — then-Phillies second basemen Placido Polanco got hit by a Josh Beckett fastball smack dab on his finger which forced him out of the game. While he waited for his finger to heal, utility man Tomas Perez filled in (admirably, I might add) at second. But nine days later, Placido realized the pain was far too bad to even grip a bat, so the Phillies retroactive’d him to the DL and called up this skinny little punk from UCLA named Chase Utley to take his roster spot.

Then, on April 24th, Chase made his first start as an MLBer batting in the 8-hole behind David Bell (hahahhahahhahah), and in his very first at-bat*… he flew out to shallow left. BUT, on his second, Chase absolutely CRUSHED an Aaron Cook pitch and hit a grand slam to right scoring Jim Thome, Mike Lieberthal, and David Bell.

Watch it:

*Whoops. Forgot about this.

I don’t want to imagine a world in which Ryan Howard isn’t the first baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies, but that doesn’t mean it’s completely out of the realm of possibility. Once his contract expires at the end of the ‘11, the greatest slugger in all the land is gonna demand some major scratch, and if the Yankees feel they need a DH, the Cardinals part ways with Pujols and feel like bringing in their hometown boy, or (God forbid) the Mets throw some cash in his face, he could be gone.

So, if that’s the case, then who, pray tell, would fill his void?  Howsabout some Chase Fucking Utley. 

From Jim Salisbury’s ‘State of the Phillies: First Base’ column:

Chase Utley? Isn’t he an all-star second baseman? Yes, he is. But don’t be surprised if he succeeds Howard at first base if Howard moves on after 2011.

Utley, who is signed through 2013, has played some at the position already and shouldn’t have trouble with the transition if that’s the way the organization goes. There could be some pluses to moving Utley to first. He’s a very physical player. On top of getting hit by a couple of dozen pitches per season, he throws his body around in the infield and subjects himself to contact turning the double play at second.

Getting away from the second base pivot, and moving to a less physically demanding position such as first base, might help Utley’s offensive production late in his contract and extend his career. Of course, keeping Howard long-term would be the ideal.

While Chase would probably be the ONLY person who could take over for Howard without hearing non-SABR dudes complain, I still agree with the last sentence in Jim’s last paragraph there.

Salisbury’s State of the Phillies: First Base | CSN Philly

Your National League champion Philadelphia Phillies aren’t just baseball players- they’re community servicemen! I’m not sure what school this is, but for reading Clifford the Big Red Dog (sorry for evoking any Cliff Lee memories) and Curious George, these kids, courtesy of the Phillies Be A Phanatic About Reading Program, and their fine Twitter account, got a big ol’ surprise from none other than Chase Utley. (And yes, it’s OK to be jealous as shiiit of these 10 year olds right now.)

In other Chase-related news, yesterday he finally spoke about trading Cliff Lee (from David Murphy’s Philly.com article).

“Halladay is one of the best pitchers in baseball,” Utley said. “He’s a workhorse. Everyone I’ve talked to who has played with him or against him has nothing but good things to say about him. I’m excited to see him work.”

“I got to play behind Cliff. He did a wonderful job for us. Hopefully 1 day I’ll get to play behind him again. But it’s a business, and every year we realize there will be new faces in the clubhouse.”

“I trust what the front office has done. They’ve done a good job getting good players and putting good people in the clubhouse. It’s been a big part of our success. I trust what they do.”

Chase  was also asked about the Phillies bringing back the dude with the forehead that the Phillies got rid of so Chase could play second base

“When we were here kind of platooning a few years ago, him being the veteran guy, I guess if he really wanted to he could have made the situation uncomfortable for me. But he didn’t do that at all. He was extremely helpful, trying to help me get better, telling me things that might help me out. When I think back on it, that’s pretty cool.”

Also found this gem on the Phillies twitter page:

I’m sure most of you remember this, but it’s always nice to reminisce…

Back on August 9th of 2006, the Philadelphia Phillies were in Turner Field for the rubber match in a 3-game set vs. the Braves. The Phils entered the top of the seventh inning down 3-1 with their 7-8-9 hitters due up (who were, by the way: Mike Lieberthal, Abe Nunez, and pinch-hitter Chris Roberson) against Atlanta reliever Tyler Yates. Miraculously, Lieberthal drew a walk, Nunez hit a single to left field, and Roberson bunted them over to make it 2nd & 3rd with 1 down. After back-to-back walks to Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino — which forced a run in — Bobby Cox played the percentages and brought a fresh lefty named Macay McBride into the game to face Chase Utley.

So Chase works a 2-2 count on McBride before crushing a pitch into the gap in left-center clearing the bases and giving the Phillies a comfortable 5-3 lead. On the next pitch to Ryan Howard, he hits a dribbler up the first base line and Chase — who was off with the pitch — never stopped running and scored from 2nd base on a ball hit about 60 ft. Surely Harry The K never saw anything like it, so he came out with his now-legendary “Chase Utley, you ARE the MAN!” line. Watch:

After the jump, check out video of DNL the following day when Michael Barkann shows Chase the clip of Harry’s call. It’s pretty damn cool.

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Here’s the radio call courtesy of 1210 WPHT from Chase Utley’s 2nd homer off of Yankees ace C.C. Sabathia last night. It was during the middle innings, so Franzke and LA weren’t in the booth, however Tom McCarthy does a fine job with it (he even gets authentically excited!) and Sarge comes in to finish it off with his ‘Cadillac Time’ proclamation. Listen up:

Photo courtesy of NickSixers Flickr account

I was just checking out the replay of Chase’s third inning shot last night and couldn’t help but notice the advertisement just to the left of where his go-ahead homer landed.  See it up there?

It’s like the new Utley’s Corner!

If you’re going to give the finger to an opposing player, you might want to get off the cell phone first.

Later, this dude left in the eighth inning (probably).

There’s a ton of awesome stuff that happened tonight postgame, but I think this might be my favorite. Utley got Kanye Wested!

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