"Charlie Manuel was excited about the intricacies of the at-bat, the nuance of it after Shane Victorino led off the seventh inning with a double in a one-run game. Rather than flail at a pitch in attempt to do something heroic, Chase Utley played the game the correct way.

In the box score it will go down as another out — a harmless grounder to second base. But to Manuel it was an at-bat that set up the inning.

"He did a super job with no one out in the seventh inning when he pulled the ball to the right side," Manuel said about Utley's at-bat. "That's how you play the game. Then Howard knocked in a big run."

Call it a trickle-down effect of sorts. Earlier this week Manuel had been lamenting the Phillies' approach to plate appearances where they didn't work the count properly or helped the pitcher out by swinging at bad balls in favorable counts. It wasn't smart baseball. However, in the 7-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs at the Bank on Saturday afternoon, Utley set the precedent and the rest of the team followed.

As a result, the Phillies scored seven runs for the second straight game to give the team back-to-back gave with four more runs for the first time since the last weekend of May. With runs so tough to come by for the Phillies, back-to-back onslaughts are a welcomed sight, and that's especially the case since the Phillies have scored three or fewer runs in nine of their last 12.

Though a bit of fundamental baseball was definitely something to get excited about in the Phillies' latest victory, so too was Utley's 2-for-5 effort with a double, a home run and four RBIs. Obviously the extra offensive punch is a welcome addition to the Phils' lineup that had been struggling to score runs all season long. Better yet, there just might be something to the notion that Utley's reappearance in the lineup could be influential."