"For about 15 minutes before Wednesday's game, Chase Utley shuffled around second base, taking grounders, flipping balls to second and making throws to first.

The image is so tantalizing for the Phillies. Despite continued soreness in his knee caused by patellar tendinitis and bone inflammation, Utley looks smooth and moves well.

But while his progress has been consistent, a return to action is still a ways off, he said.

"That's the goal but that's definitely not the next step," Utley said. "The next step is just to continue doing what I'm doing and to hope that it responds well. And so far it has."

Utley said his knee feels significantly better than it did when the team left Florida to begin the regular season three weeks ago, but when it comes to testing its strength, he's playing it safe.

He has begun light running, and he is consistently extending his lateral movements when fielding grounders with infield coach Sam Perlozzo.

"Every couple days I see something where he looks like he's got a little more bounce to his step, and I'm able to extend him a little bit more each time," Perlozzo said. "The number of reps he takes has increased each time. I can see steady improvement.""