But if the Phillies really have a chance to make some serious club history over the next few days, it will have to be done the way Utley started the third inning last night, not the way he punctuated his record-tying night with his fifth home run of this World Series in the seventh.
Patience. Scratch. Claw.
Walks, singles, hit batsmen, stolen bases.
Pressure, pressure, pressure.
"I don't want to embarrass him or nothing like that,'' Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "But sometimes I tell our players, 'Just play with Chase.' Because if you play with Chase, you've got a chance to be a pretty good player.''
Utley hit two fastballs over the rightfield wall last night, tying Reggie Jackson for the most home runs in a World Series. The first one came after Jimmy Rollins slapped a two-strike single and Shane Victorino took a pitch on his hand trying to bunt. It reversed a 1-0 deficit, woke the nervous 46,178. The second added a seventh run to what surely should have been a rout.
"World Series,'' Utley said. "It was a do-or-die game. But I try to prepare the same way no matter when you're playing.''
You think about some of the events that have led to the Yankees' 3-2 lead in this series. Johnny Damon's nine-pitch at-bat in Game 4. A flair single by Andy Pettitte in Game 3 that ignited a three-run, homerless rally. Victorino's wild hacks at two balls after Pettitte had just walked in the Phillies' second run in that same Game 3, defusing what was shaping up as a huge, starting-pitcher-chasing inning.
Patience. Scratch. Claw.
It's how the Phillies won the World Series last year. Fouling off tough pitches. Taking close ones. A seeing-eye single by Pedro Feliz up the middle. A bloop by Victorino - kind of like those Damon flares of this World Series.
