When Utley flew to the Phillies' spring-training complex on Friday, the team said that he was just working out and wasn't beginning an official rehab assignment. Manuel said that Utley, who was cleared to start swinging a bat only 4 days ago, wasn't yet "airing it out."
But the next night he was in the lineup for his first rehab start.
Utley is scheduled to play another seven-inning game today, and perhaps later get some at-bats as a designated hitter in the nightcap of a doubleheader.
The Phillies' front office has been tight-lipped about its expectation for Utley's return.
"We're just going to re-evaluate him after the games tomorrow and we'll go from there," assistant general manager Scott Proefrock said yesterday. "It's a day-to-day type thing. He's going to have to tell us he's feeling good and ready and all that, and that won't happen until after he's done playing."
Manuel was more expansive about his expectations, saying he thought odds were in favor of Utley returning tomorrow.
"I'd say it's a probability," the manager said. "We'll see where he's at. I think he'll kind of let us know. I trust him and I've talked about things like this a lot, so I trust him and I definitely think he'll be very truthful to us."
Howard, on the other hand, probably won't be ready tomorrow when he is eligible to return from the disabled list.
"He's making progress, but I don't think we're looking at [tomorrow] as the day he's going to come back," Proefrock said. "I would imagine he's probably going to need to go on some kind of a rehab and at this point he's not even ready to do that . . . "
Howard has been optimistic due to the hitting and fielding work he has done. But Manuel said Howard's sprained left ankle was sore yesterday.
