(Photo: Philliedelphia/Steve Trapani)
I would have never expected this to happen.
After going 0-5 with three strike outs, Phillies second baseman Chase Utley was received with a round of boos.
The crowd is thinning here at Bright House Field as the game heads to extra innings, but a few of the fans that remained booed Chase Utley after Tampa Yankees lefty Rigaberto Arrebato struck him out to end the bottom of the ninth inning.
Arrebato got Utley to swing through an offspeed pitch and the boos followed.
- Philly.com
Seriously? You're going to boo Chase Utley, one of the most popular Phillies in history? I'd expect that from John Bowker or Jason Michaels, but Chase Utley? C'mon that's uncalled for. It's his first live game since October, cut the man some slack.
Utley has 19 more games to rehab before he can come back with the big league team. If my calcuations are correct, he could be back with the Phillies as soon as July 3rd. The Phillies would be opening up a three game sets with the Mets in New York. Let's hope for all the best and don't ever boo Chase Utley again.
I can easily understand why fans booed Chase Utley last night, and although I personally wouldn't have done so had I been in attendance, fans have the right to voice their displeasure.
Until now, Utley has enjoyed being seemingly above rapproach by the Philadelphia fan base and media since his entrance into the league. I feel that the mismanagement of his medical condition - which emanates straight from him - has at times bordered on selfishness and arrogance and has certainly hamstrung the Phillies organization in terms of its ability to determine its best major league roster for the 2012 season - and beyond.
In some ways, Utley is symbolic of the heretofore disastrous '12 season and I feel that he bears some culpability. Fans are frustrated because of the expectations placed on this team. We are witnessing the probable passing of the halcyon days as age, injuries, and perhaps some complacency at all levels of the organization has beset the product that is now double-digits out of first place in its division. If Utley had been perhaps more forthcoming - to himself, his teammates, and the front office - then it's possible he never would have heard boos last night. I think he can expect more of the same treatment from Phillies' fans when (if?) he reaches CBP in the near future and fails to execute his job to the level that is expected of him.
Posted by: polymorphously perverse | June 13, 2012 at 06:38 PM
I hope he will be okay after Jul 3rd.
Posted by: drug rehab centers | June 18, 2012 at 04:57 PM