Chase Utley : October 5th, 2008, 8:55 pm est

News: Phillies manager Charlie Manuel won't blame 2B Chase Utley's hitting woes on a bad hip. Utley was 0-for-3 in Sunday's 6-2 win over the Brewers that clinched the Phillies' first trip to the NL championship series since 1993. That drops his postseason average to a dismal .133, well off his season average of .292. 'When Chase Utley's hip is bothering him enough where he can't play, I think he's going to walk right in there and tell me,' Manuel said. 'He ain't nowhere near there yet.'

Analysis: The All-Star second baseman refused to acknowledge that he was hurting during the regular season, though general manager Pat Gillick said in late July that Utley had been playing with a sore right hip. That might explain why he hit .352 in April and no better than .294 in any month since. An offseason of rest might help, though, and he remains the clear No. 1 in our rankings at second base heading into spring 2009