What is going on with Chase Utley? An All-Star second baseman throws away a routine double play ball for the second game in a row.
I was shocked as Phillies veteran righthander Pedro Martinez shutout the Dodgers for seven innings, and just as shocked when Utley threw the ball into the dugout.
The throw allowed Los Angeles to tie the game and they ultimately won it when J.A. Happ walked Andre Ethier with the base loaded later in the eventful eighth inning.
I hope he’s not going through what former Dodger All-Star second baseman Steve Sax went through when he became unable to throw the ball to first base.
He’s got to get his confidence back.
The shame of this loss isn’t so much that the Dodgers won the game, as much as it is that the Phils gave this one away.
They’ve got to get their minds back into focus and start playing the type of mistake-free baseball that won them last year’s World Series championship.
Let me remind you that despite Utley blowing a routine double play, he didn’t lose this game alone. It was the team that lost this game.
The nightmare started in the bottom of the eighth with the Phillies were leading 1-0. Casey Blake hit a ground ball to the left of third baseman Pedro Feliz and he could only get his glove on it.
Feliz was guarding the leftfield line to prevent any doubles, otherwise it would have been a routine groundball.
Ronnie Belliard then delivered a bunt single which got past pitcher Chan Ho Park and first baseman Ryan Howard. Park could have had it but he just returned from a leg injury.
Happ tried to be too perfect in his battle with Ethier. With the count 2-2, he threw to fastballs that were a bit low.
Utley offered no excuses after the game. “I had plenty of time to turn it. I just didn’t make the throw,” Utley said. “A lot of things could have gone differently, not just that play. Chan Ho made a good pitch to get a ground ball, which was what we needed, but we couldn’t turn it.”
