There’s no getting around it: Chase Utley simply had a torrid run at the plate in the month of June. Just take a look at the numbers…
- 386 avg 462 OBP 653 SLG = 1.116 OPS
- 9 doubles, 6 homers, 15 walks, 18 Ks, 3-3 SB
- 11.93 runs created per 27 outs
He pretty much dominated out there, and was a terrific 1-2 punch along with Ryan Howard. He’s handled righties, he’s handled lefties, and he’s done both fairly consistently throughout the past month. Chase Utley certainly deserves to be the NL player of the month…
Or does he? You see, there was another terrific month brewing in the Midwest in Milwaukee. Rookie third baseman Ryan Braun also had a sick month, putting up a 1.179 OPS and 12.10 runs created per 27 outs. He pretty much had an identical month to Utley, except very slightly better. Whether Utley deserves it or not it based entirely on whether or not whoever the hell votes for player of the month paid attention to a smaller market like Milwaukee. Somehow I assume that all-star Chase is going to be given the honor.
Hell, either guy deserves it, it’s just that Braun probably had one of the best debut months a rookie’s ever had.
