Phillies' Chase Utley Looks To Be Ready For Opening Day

On November 20, 2008, news broke that Chase Utley would undergo hip surgery. As the story broke, the projected length of healing time was 4-6 months, which would mean his return would likely come between March and May.

Now, it looks like the four months bit is the accurate estimate.

Funny thing, though, is that ESPN, among others, failed to even suggest that Utley would be out 4-6 months, and just suggested he could be out until June. They also suggested that he likely would not begin baseball activities anywhere from the middle of Spring Training to a week before Opening Day.

Ah, those folks at ESPN are always good for a laugh or two. Terrell Owens said the word "jealous"? Guess he and Tony have some problems. Alex Ovechkin didn't score a goal? Jeez, what a slump.

Anyway, back to Utley.

Why is it that anyone would even start to think Chase Utley would be out until June? No medical brainiacs predicted it, so who gives the media the right to? Once the media proclaims "Utley out until June," the whole world believes it.

I cannot tell you the amount of times I have commented on an article, or even wrote myself, that Chase would be back for Opening Day.

This is Chase Utley, folks. Chase Utley!

There are few athletes who put in as much work and effort as Chase does. He played most of last season with the hip injury, why would he be out for seven months after his surgery? He is already fielding, and began hitting yesterday.

I am no medical doctor, but it was obvious to me that Chase Utley would be back by the end of April, at the worst.

Now, this is very early to say that he definitely will be back for the opener, but I am suggesting that no set-backs occur. Even if they do, it does not diminish the fact that he would have otherwise been ready for Opening Day.

Enough of me proclaiming that I was correct about Mr. Utley. It was not just me on this site who know Chase would be fine, so my hats off to those of you with the common sense.

Moving on.

It is suggested that the second-baseman began feeling the wrath of his bad hip around June, where his performance began to drop off. In the early season, Chase Utley was putting up numbers that could have gone down as one of the best seasons for a second baseman in history. Yet, he soon dipped into two 0-for-20 slumps.

It was obvious there was something wrong.

Many of those close to the Phillies felt Utley was playing hurt. Utley just denied the rumors. As it turned out, the rumors were true.

Now, if Utley has the potential to put together a full healthy season, just watch it, boys.

This is a guy who is already being thought of as eventually being the best hitting second baseman of all-time. The numbers he put up at the beginning of last season showed his potential, and now he looks to pick up on that.

So now that Utley has proven the four-letter network wrong once again, it is time for Chase to step-up and perform at the highest level.

There is no reason to believe he cannot.