It’s got to be really tough to lose half of your starting infield in one felt swoop. Well, unfortunately for the Philadelphia Phillies, such is the case. The Phillies placed second baseman Chase Utley and third baseman Placido Polanco each on the 15-day DL respectively yesterday.

Utley is headed to the 15-day DL

Utley was placed on the DL with a sprained ulnar collateral ligament of the right thumb. Utley hurt the thumb on Monday trying to stretch a single into a double. Polanco was placed on the DL due to done spurs in his left elbow.

These are two huge losses for the Phillies, who entered last night’s game against the Cincinnati Reds 3.5 games behind the first place Atlanta Braves. The Utley loss in particular is rough because I have always believed he is the heart and soul of that team.

Not only is Utley a fantastic offensive player (that’s called stating the obvious), but he is also tough as nails. Many believed he was playing hurt prior to this injury.

Polanco is no slouch either. He was third in the NL in hitting with a .318 mark and also has played outstanding defense all year. He currently ranks fourth amongst all major league third baseman with a 5.5 UZR.

So the question now is; How do the Phillies replace these two on a day to day basis?

Internally, the Phillies will try to roll with Greg Dobbs at third and Wilson Valdez at second like they did last night for the time being. The Phillies also called up INF Brian Bocock (how is he not a porn star?) from Triple-A to provide some infield depth. Bocock was hitting only .179 in Triple-A, so of course he will hit .350 in the month of July.

If Utley and Polanco are out longer than expected, the Phillies could pursue options like Ty Wigginton, Adam Kennedy, or Kelly Johnson.

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By The Baseball Index