"Chase Utley always runs hard out of the batters' box. That's pretty much a given. There are certain things people can depend on in this life and they are death, taxes and the fact that Utley will play baseball as if his hair is on fire.

So as soon as his long shot off Giants pitcher Barry Zito caromed away from centerfielder Andres Torres near the 409-foot marker, it was obvious that Utley had a chance for an inside-the-park home run. At the very least, he was going to go for it.

"I saw the ball kick off the wall and I knew there was a possibility," Utley said after the Phillies' 7-2 victory over the Giants on Tuesday night at the Bank. "I didn't see what was going on behind me. [Third-base coach Juan Samuel] gave me the sign to go home and it worked out."

For Utley it as his third inside-the-park homer of his career and second for the Phillies this season (Shane Victorino got one on April 24 in San Diego). More importantly, Utley's trip around the bases made it look as if his chronically sore knee that cost him the first 46 games of the season was doing alright. Add in the fact that Utley went from first to home on Ryan Howard's RBI double in the first inning and the second baseman did a lot of hard running on Tuesday night.

Utley says he has felt pretty good over the past month and it has shown in his day-by-day ledger. Though the idea was to give Utley regular days off throughout the season, manager Charlie Manuel has put him on the bench just four times since his return on May 23. Meanwhile, Utley has played in every game going back to June 28, a span of 22 straight games.

In other words, if something is bothering Utley, he's not letting on.

"I get excited to see Utley run like that," Manuel said. "We don't hold him – are you kidding me?"

Playing hurt, or, at the very least, banged up, is the default setting for Utley, but if he's in the lineup don't expect anything less than hair-on-fire style of baseball.

"That's who he is. He doesn't know any other way to play and that's good," Manuel said. "That's what I really love about him."

As far as Utley's inside-the-parker on Tuesday night goes, it was an exciting, bang-bang play. Torres regrouped quickly and made a good throw to the cutoff man, Jeff Keppinger. The relay to the plate was slightly up the line and if Utley had tried to barrel over catcher Eli Whiteside, he probably would have been out."