Utley and Polanco on DL

Greg Dobbs and Brian Bocock to fill in

The Phightins suffered two big blows Tuesday.

The Phillies placed both second baseman Chase Utley and third baseman Placido Polanco on the 15-day disabled list.

Chase sprained a ligament in his right thumb in Monday’s loss to the Cincinnati Reds and Poly has missed the past three games because of inflammation to his left elbow, said Phillies’ management.

Both players could possibly be out for a while.

"The main thing is we need to find out the length of Chase and Poly's stay on the DL," assistant general manager Scott Proefrock said. "At this point, we're not sure."

Utley was only on the disabled list one other time in his career -- when he missed a month during the 2007 season with a broken right hand. The 31-year-old is hitting .277 this season with 11 home runs and 37 RBI and had seemingly turned the corner in recent games after struggling at the plate for about a month.

An MRI Tuesday revealed a sprain and not a break in Chase's thumb.

Polanco goes on the DL with a .318 batting average, five homers and 27 RBI.

Polanco has a bone spur in the left elbow. It was hit by a pitch in April and has bothered him since despite two injections to help the healing.

"The question is why is it so persistent?" trainer Scott Sheridan said. "You'd expect if you treat it with anti-inflammatories and the types of things we've done with it that it should respond, and it has not. So I think it's time to put him on the DL, rest him and try to get some better answers for why this thing is staying the way it is."

Amazingly the same day the Phillies shut down half their infield, the same two guys were announced as the leaders entering the final hours of All-Star voting. Utley held a likely insurmountable 1.35 million vote lead over the Braves Martin Prado and Polanco was clinging to about a 23,000 vote lead over Mets' third baseman David Wright.

Filling in for the two powerhouses are recently dispatched infielder/outfielder Greg Dobbs and light-hitting infielder Brian Bocock.

Chase and Poly have company on the Phils' DL. Catcher Carlos Ruiz, reliever Ryan Madson, lefty starter J.A. Happ, reliever Chad Durbin and reliever Antonio Bastardo are also all out of action with injuries.

Fan, follow and download: Get the latest from NBCPhiladelphia.com anytime, anywhere. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and NBC Philadelphia. Sign up for our sports newsletter. And, get breaking news delivered right to your mobile phone -- just text PHIBREAKING to 639710 to sign up. (Message and data rates may apply.)

Copyright AP - Associated Press
Contact Us