No Chase, No Chance?

Written by Mike Mariano | 02 July 2010

Up until today, I haven't really worried much about the Phillies.  Slumping? Losing?  Who cares.  This team is good, check that great, and they'll turn it around.  Veterans all around the field.  A team that always plays hard and always plays the game right.  Sooner or later the cream will rise to the top and everything will be fine.  That may be wishful thinking, but it's not far fetched to expect a good team to find its way -- it is only July 2nd after all.  However, losing Chase Utley for two months changes things.

Today, when I heard the news of surgery and the eight week layoff and talk of a September return... I felt a shred of doubt.  What if the Phillies aren't that good?  What if they don't turn it around and miss the playoffs entirely?  Well the more I think about it, I think Utley's injury undoubtedly hurts this team -- he's the leader and the class of the organization.  However, after the initial shock of it all, I'm not that worried.  Losing Chase hurts big time, but there's more than enough talent to win the division on this team.  Win it handily, I'm not so sure about that -- but win it nonetheless.

This shifts a lot of responsibility onto the shoulders of Ryan Howard, Jayson Werth and Shane Victorino... it'll be interesting to see how they handle it.