"It has been nearly three weeks since Chase Utley made his 2011 debut, stepping to the plate at Citizens Bank Park as a raucous crowd showered him with applause.

Since then, the enthusiasm has dimmed a bit. Utley was to be the savior for a struggling offense, but it would take more than a few swings to shake all the rust off his bat after a knee injury cost him the entirety of spring training and the first 46 games of the regular season.

The numbers - a .230 average, just three extra-base hits, discouragingly few line drives - told the story of a player struggling to hit big-league pitching in June when his bat was working at a speed much closer to the easy pace of mid-March.

But after seven years together, Charlie Manuel sees through the stats. He sees the little things, the nuance to Utley's routine that, when everything is clicking the way it's supposed to, make him one of the premier hitters in baseball.

The little things are what Manuel watches for, and for the past few days, he's liked what he's seen.

"He's starting to get his stride down at the plate," Manuel said. "Sometimes, he can stride a little bit too quick and get on his front side, especially against slow stuff. The last couple of days, he's started to have what I like to say is slow feet and quick hands."

One game won't necessarily signal an end to Utley's struggles, but on Friday, the second baseman showed Phillies fans what Manuel had seen the past few days.

Utley was the centerpiece of a breakout offensive performance, smacking a two-run double in the first inning and a two-run homer in the eighth to pace a 7-1 win over the Cubs."