Placido Polanco left the Phillies' April 15th game against the Marlins in the seventh inning after he was hit in the hand by a Josh Beckett pitch. Two days later x-rays revealed that tip of his right ring finger was cracked, but Philadelphia waited until April 23rd to place him on the DL, hoping that he would not need to be sidelined a full 15 days. I thought he would need more time to recover, however Polanco returned from the disabled list May 1st and appears fully recovered from his injury.

Chase Utley replaced Polanco on the roster while Polanco was on the DL and returned to the minors when Polanco rejoined the team. When the Phillies demoted Utley in April after he broke camp with the team, we discussed him and the fact that he did not log his first major league hit before heading to the minors. This stint in the majors was much more fruitful for the rookie, who hit a grand slam off Aaron Cook in the 3rd inning of Philadelphia's April 24th game against Colorado for his first major league hit.

The downside to the Phillies calling Utley up for these brief assignments is that he's likely to lose his rookie eligibility and subsequently his shot at winning the Rookie of the Year award, when he would have been a strong candidate for the 2004 ROY. However, as he is sufficiently prepared to start in the majors now, I have little problem with the Phillies calling him up when they know there will be at-bats available.