Is Utley's Condition A Signal That The Phillies' Championship Window Is Closing?
By Joseph Santoliquito
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- It's come down gradually over the last few years. After the 2008 World Series triumph, the Phillies have finished each subsequent season with an earlier exit from the postseason. They keep on winning the National League East, now riding a franchise-record five-straight divisional titles into this 2012 season.
There is no doubt that this is the greatest span of time in Phillies' history. Maybe it's why Phillies' fans may want to embrace these next few seasons a little tighter.
This veteran team that has won more games, and played more games than any team in baseball over the last five years is beginning to decline. The Phillies will begin the 2012 season in defense of their NL East title without their vaunted right side of the infield, All-stars Chase Utley and Ryan Howard.
The 33-year-old Utley, once considered the heart and soul of the Phillies, has seen his numbers wind down from 159 games played, a 33-home run and 104-RBI season in the 2008 World Series year, to playing 103 games, with 11 home runs and 44 RBIs last season.
Utley is dealing with two treatable conditions called patella tendonitis and Chrondromalacia patella.
"He's got bad knees," Phillies' general manager Ruben Amaro said about Utley. "He's got a cartilage issue. You can't grow cartilage. So it's partially tendinitis and partially a cartilage issue. So hopefully we can get him to the point where he's feeling confident about playing on it."
The best treatment for Utley is rest—meaning the number of games he's able to play could be roughly the same amount he played last year, or possible 2010, when he appeared in 115 games and hit 16 home runs and drove in 65.
As for Howard, his situation is much more unpredictable. He was recovering from Achilles tendon surgery when an infection near his heel occurred this spring further prolonging his return, which in some circles was unrealistically predicted to be Opening Day. Now it's a great unknown when Howard will be back.
This is a team that's run production has dwindled from 820 in 2009, when the Phillies reached the World Series and lost to the New York Yankees, to 772 when they got bumped out of the National League championship series to the eventual world champion San Francisco Giants in 2011, to 713 runs in 2011 when the Phillies couldn't even get out of the divisional round, losing to eventual world champion St. Louis Cardinals.
See a pattern here?
With Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels, the Phillies should win more than 90 games this season. But the superstar trio also went the entire 2011 season without suffering any major mishaps. Halladay, as he himself noted this spring, is 34 years old now. He pitched 250.2 innings for the Phillies in 2010 when he came here, then 233.2 last season. The two seasons combined rate as the second-highest two-year total Halladay has ever pitched since the 2002 and 2003 season for Toronto (239.1 and 266).
What happened to Halladay the following season? He broke down, appearing in 21 games and going 8-8 in 2004, his worst record in a decade. That was when he was 27.
So expect to see a lot of Ty Wigginton at first base the first few months of the season, and possibly the future in hotshot Freddy Galvis right next to him at second. Expect the Washington Nationals, Miami Marlins and Atlanta Braves to stick around a lot longer than they did last year, when the Phillies won the NL East by a meaty 13 games, another franchise record.
But it's a good idea to embrace the core group of this special team. Because the window appears to be closing on this aged collection that revitalized Philadelphia's interest in baseball again.
