Cardinals vs. Phillies: Philadelphia Phillies’ X-Factor for Game 5

He missed the first two months of the season due to injury. He had a very slow start once he got back into the Phillies lineup in late May. He had an even slower finish to the season in September.

His regular-season numbers are not awe-inspiring, not by a long shot. Indeed, a .259 batting average with 11 home runs and 44 RBI are not exactly what Chase Utley hoped for before the 2011 season began.

But so it’s been for Utley over the past two injury-plagued seasons, a far cry from his 2009 campaign in which he posted a .282 batting average with 31 homers and 93 RBI.

Don’t let all of that fool you, though. Utley is back, and in the postseason he’s looking to help get his Phillies back to the World Series.

Despite Philadelphia’s distinction as the team with the best regular-season record in the big leagues and the fact the Phillies were chosen by the vast majority of baseball experts to be the National League’s representative in the World Series, the club faces elimination Friday night against the St. Louis Cardinals in a do-or-die Game 5 of the NLDS.

With all of the analysis going into who or what the difference-maker will be in this decisive contest, sometimes the simplest of stats can give the best answer.

Chase Utley is 7-for-15 lifetime against Cardinals’ Game 5 starter Chris Carpenter. And he’s 6-for-13 in the NLDS thus far, with two doubles and a triple.

While Roy Halladay will certainly have the opportunity to make a huge impact on whether the Phils move on to the league championship series for the fourth consecutive season, keep your eye on Utley because No. 26 may just be the X-factor that saves Philadelphia’s season and keeps the bid for a return to the Fall Classic alive and well.

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MLB Trade Deadline: Will Phillies’ Series Loss to Giants Push Hunter Pence Deal?

The San Francisco Giants seem to have the Philadelphia Phillies‘ number.

After taking two of three games in this week’s highly-anticipated NLCS rematch between San Francisco and Philadelphia, the defending world champions head for their next series against the Cincinnati Reds feeling pretty good about themselves.

Not only did they defeat the team with the best record in baseball, but they also picked up the coveted trade-deadline prize that is Carlos Beltran along the way.

Despite an 0-for-4 performance by the newest Giant in the series finale against the Phillies, San Francisco made defeating the mighty Phillies look too easy, not yielding a single earned run over the last two games of the series.

The Phillies still don’t have an answer for San Francisco’s pitching staff, particularly the specialized relievers that come out of the Giants’ formidable bullpen (Lopez, Affeldt, Romo, etc.).

Philadelphia’s offense managed a meager .156 batting average (10-for-64) over those two games, stranding 15 men on base.

Ryan Howard and Chase Utley combined for a 1-for-16 performance, and collectively Phillies hitters went 2-for-18 with runners in scoring position (.111 BA).

The last time these two clubs met, in the 2010 NLCS, the Phillies hit just .216 against the Giants, averaging only 3.3 runs per game. Philadelphia hitters struck out 56 times (roughly 9 strikeouts per game).

A big reason for San Francisco’s dominance of Phillies hitters is the lack of a right-handed bat in a Philadelphia lineup whose left-handed hitters have been neutralized by Giants relievers.

The Phillies have been aggressively pursuing hitters on the trade market as we approach Sunday’s non-waiver MLB trade deadline, but the Giants won Carlos Beltran, leaving the Phillies with what feels like a big hole to fill to keep up with the defending champs.

Hunter Pence is heavily rumored to be Philadelphia’s main target, and based on reports from Sports Illustrated’s Jon Heyman and Fox’s Ken Rosenthal, the Phillies are willing to do whatever they have to, including trading top prospect Dominic Brown, to get Pence from the Astros.

Has the recent series loss to the Giants created more of an urgency for the Phillies?

Quite possibly.

And the fact that the Phillies are very likely to see those Giants come October, it would indeed be a surprise if Hunter Pence is not wearing a Philadelphia jersey come Monday.

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