Utley to have head examined, misses Milwaukee flight

General manager Ruben Amaro Jr. tells CSNPhilly.com that Chase Utley will stay home for Thursday's opener against Milwaukee before receiving an examination for a possible concussion sustained on a 90-mph fastball to the back of the head Wednesday night. “As I told Chase, we’re not going to mess with the heart and we’re not going to mess with the head,” Amaro told CSNPhilly.com. “When you get a 90-mph fastball off the melon you have to be cautious about it. He’s going to be out at least a couple of days.” Jimmy Rollins will be activated from the disabled list, but is expected to fill only an emergency role for now. (AP Photo) [Full Story]

Comments

[Meyer]

What's wrong with his heart?

[Will Schweitzer]

Reports are coming out that it's a mild concussion.

[EastFallowfield]

MLB Network says Phils are 41-23 vs teams with winning records. (They did say we were 27-3 over a 30 game stretch recently, so grain of salt applies).

[bake]

Why a grain of salt? The wins don't count because they were wins?

[EastFallowfield]

No, because maybe whoever came up with the stat is the same person who came up with the "Phils are 27-3 in their last 30 games" stat they ran last week.

[Fatalotti]

Matt H, thanks.

You made my argument a lot better than I ever could have.

[Malcolm]

Let's see:

Arizona: 3-3
Atlanta: 9-6
Boston: 2-1
Milwaukee: 1-2
San Francisco: 4-3
St. Louis: 2-3
Texas: 2-1

That's 23-19. So, no, that's not true.

[GM-Carson]

I freakin' sick of the Braves pitchers taking aim at Phillies. These are little plunks on the hind-end. Nope, they're causing serious damage.

[GM-Carson]

That was supposed to read "aren't little plunks".

[God]

Re: the rain

The reason it rains all around you and not on the Phillies is because they are now MY team. I want to watch them play. When I knew they needed a rest, it rained a lot. They'll be ready for October now.

PS: Chase will be fine, he's a saint after all.

[Meyer]

I knew it.

[cut_fastball]

Fata -- Not so long ago, I posted that if the streak went: Braves W-9; Phillies, W-9 and the Braves won a few games more than the Phils the rest of the way in, the Phillies might scuffle as a wild card.

Wow. How wrong was that. Regardless, I'm still completely baffled how a team who carried Michael Martinez, Wilson Valdez, and Joe Blanton throughout the season is currently 43 games over .500 on September 7. A team who has withstood a serious injury to their shortstop, second baseman and GG CF; again, 43 over.

I don't care how good the pitching is. That W/L record is completely astonishing by any measure. I really, really hope the Phillies explode the so-called "100-win" jinx, and crush teams in the playoffs.

BTW, I picked this team -- based primarily on Chase Utley's knee, and Jimmy Rollin's history of injuries -- for 92 wins. Wrong. Again.

[cut_fastball]

Correction: Phillies, L-9. Can't even write it down, it is so absurd.

[GM-Carson]

At the beginning of the season I think I predicted 93 or 94 wins, with the Phils taking the Wild Card. So happy to be wrong.

[Fatalotti]

cut, they haven't gotten to 92 wins yet.... =)

[EastFallowfield]

Maybe the MLBN stat was taking into account the record when the games were played (like when the Mets or Pirates were over .500 sometimes when we played them).

[The Truth Injection]

I know people are pissed that Utley got hit in the head, but I just don't agree that it was O'Flaherty throwing at Utley. What would be the point of that? At that juncture of the game the score was 1-1 and no matter how much you may think you can get Howard out why would you intentionally try to load the bases?

[Andy]

Phils are fifth from the top in getting plunked, fifth from the bottom in plunking unto others.

Interestingly, the Mets are the worst at hitting other teams' batters - by a lot (60 with the next closest team at 49).

With an average of about 45 per team league wide, the Braves hitters have only been hit 25 times. It might be that other teams are afraid of them, or never throw at them; but I prefer to think that they're just a bunch of wusses who run crying and screaming for their mommies every time a pitch is inside.

Of course, maybe if other teams targeted McCann and Heyward a little bit more often, maybe they wouldn't have graduated from dinking people on the behind to throwing 90 mph heat at their heads.

[EastFallowfield]

Yo, new thread

[Joe]

I think O'Flaherty meant to scare him, probably meant to throw it over his head. I mean honestly, if you watch the pitch, it makes almost no sense for that ball to end up where it did. This guy is too good to throw a ball like that, but putting the guy on still doesn't make sense. That being said, the Phils need to make a statement when they see the Braves again and drill McCann. By then the season will be over anyway. Sorry all you pacifists, but its the right thing to do.

[kuvasz]

Always liked the newspaper headline that came out after Dizzy Dean got hit in the hesd by a line drive....."Dean's head X-rayed, nothing found."