The Zo Zone

Chase Utley is a hard man to find before a game.

If he's not in the batting cage working on his swing, he's probably on the field taking extra hitting. And if he's not on the field taking extra hitting, he's probably parked in front of the video machine pouring over film. Like one person recently said, "He doesn't waste any of his time." This afternoon Utley will be studying the last three starts for Washington Nationals righthander Jason Bergmann, who faces the Phillies tonight at Citizens Bank Park, and the slew of Nationals relief pitchers he could face.

That process takes about two hours.

Utley is one of the most talented players in baseball, so I thought it would be interesting to let people know how much preparation and care he actually puts into his craft. And he puts in a lot. Just from my observations, it seems Utley watches more video than any other player in the Phillies clubhouse. He thinks it provides him an edge, and why wouldn't it? Charlie Manuel remarked that Utley has a tremendous memory, which helps Utley each and every time he steps to the plate.

Manuel said Utley "studies and prepares for the game as much or more than any other hitter I've been around. He's off the charts with preparation. He has a tremendous memory. He's totally ready when the game starts. You'll never catch him not prepared. He knows all about the pitchers. He knows what they want to do."

And it has helped turn him into a legitimate National League MVP candidate.

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In this week's Phillies Report, I write that this could be the most potent Phillies offense since the team scored a modern day franchise record 944 runs in 1930. Interestingly, that team also had the league's worst pitching staff.

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Brett Myers allowed one hit and struck out three in 1 1/3 innings last night in a rehab appearance for single-A Clearwater. He is tentatively scheduled to make another rehab appearance tomorrow night for Clearwater.

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Are they going to change the name of Citizens Bank Park? Not yet.

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Ryan Howard is featured in the latest duPont Registry Celebrity Car. Howard drives a white 2007 Escalade with "26-inch Asanti rims wrapped with Pirelli tires." Howard also has a "a center console that sits between the two back captain’s seats and matches the one up front. Inside the box, they installed two large subwoofers that sit five inches above the Escalade’s floor and shoot sound downward. Howard fired up a rap tune, and the 2,500-watt system put out some serious boom."

My car is kind of similar.

Except it's not an Escalade, it's missing a side mirror and it has an 8-track player.

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Cole Hamels is featured with a Q&A on pages 18 and 19 in the July 23 issue of Sports Illustrated. (Hank Aaron is on the cover.)

There's a great photo of Hamels wearing a miner's hat and covered in dirt. He talks about everything from learning his changeup to meeting his wife to colehamelsfacts.com.

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Home for the first time since I left for Denver on July 5, so I just got a look at the latest Baseball America. It ranks righthander Carlos Carrasco as the 22nd best prospect in baseball, and names catcher Carlos Ruiz to its Major League rookie team.