Chase Utley, mercy!

Chase Utley continued his single-man wrecking crew operation yesterday, when he went deep twice against the Yankees in Game Five. The two homers he hit last night gives him five overall in this World Series, which set a new National League record and tied Reggie Jackson's overall mark set in 1977. The more impressive thing is that Utley did his damage through the first five games, while it took Jackson six (aided by his remarkable three-home-run performance in Game Six).

The question of "who you would start a team with if you had to pick one player" was brought up immediately after Utley's second homer by Joe Buck and Tim McCarver on Fox. Buck and McCarver were both in agreement in saying that Utley is definitely worthy of being in the discussion of who you would start a team with. For once, I happen to agree with Buck and McCarver. Of course, there are better and more valuable players in baseball (Albert Pujols, Joe Mauer and Hanley Ramirez to name a few), but how many of them are second basemen?

It is rare for a second baseman to possess game-changing abilities like Utley. He has solid defense at second, he can hit for average and he can hit for power. How often do you see that? How often is it that a second baseman can be one of the best players in baseball? Not often. The only people that come to my mind are Ryne Sandberg and Joe Morgan, both of which are in the Hall of Fame. Sandberg possesses much of the same qualities that Utley has, while Morgan was your prototypical five-tool player (one who can hit for average, hit for power, steal bases, throw well and field well). While Utley does not possess all five tools, he makes up for the lack of base-stealing ability by hitting for more power.

Also, if you were to compile a list of the best second basemen in baseball, Utley is by far and away at the top of the list. Ian Kinsler for the Texas Rangers comes in at a solid number two, while Dustin Pedroia comes in at number three for me. Granted, Pedroia is the only one of those three to win a MVP, but he won it at the expense of Carlos Quentin, who went down with a broken wrist last year. Quentin was basically the leading candidate to win the AL MVP, and once he went down, the voters had to pick somebody. Kinsler has unfortunately been in relative anonymity in Texas, and I suspect that if he were in the same position as Utley, a lot more people would talk about him. However, the fact that Utley is a left-handed power-hitting second baseman is even more rare, and that puts him ahead of Kinsler in my opinion.

Chase Utley is like the four-leaf clover of second basemen; scouts struggle to find a second baseman that possesses his qualities, however, they are almost impossible to find. Nonetheless, when one is found, it will almost certainly bring good luck to the team that discovers him. Utley has been bringing a lot of good luck to the Phillies in this Series, and the team will certainly hope that more good fortune will come their way during Game Six tomorrow.