Quick. It’s Game-7 of the World Series with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and the winning runs are on base. Who do you want at the plate for the Dodgers?

A simple enough question, right? But for those of you who went with the obvious and picked Justin Turner, the current MLB batting title leader, or Chris Taylor, arguably the hottest hitter in all of baseball right now but with zero playoff experience, you might want to think again.

On Saturday night, 38-year-old / 15-year MLB veteran Chase Utley defied Father Time once again when he led off the bottom of the third inning with a 377-foot home run that just cleared the bullpen gate in right field to give the Dodgers a (then) 2-0 lead over the Atlanta Braves. It wasn’t a monster 434-footer like the one that 23-year-old reigning 2016 NL Rookie of the Year Corey Seager hit in the bottom of the first inning or the remarkable cold-off-the-bench 404-foot pinch-hit home run that the aforementioned Taylor hit to leadoff the bottom of the seventh inning to make it a 4-2 ballgame in the eventual 6-2 Dodgers victory (more on that in a minute). But what it was is confirmation yet again that Utley – the Silver Fox, as he is now affectionately known – is still, just as he has always been, clutch in key situations that earned him the nickname ‘The Man’ over his potential Hall of Fame career.

The Silver Fox strikes again, just as he has done for 15 years.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

“I was at home in the Bahamas at 37, right?” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts kidded, after the game. “So for Chase to be hitting homers against a quality starter in [Julio] Teheran. I mean this guy is so focused, I mean the way he prepares for each game and he is in tremendous shape, so yeah, I’m surprised, I really am. I think to the person in that clubhouse, and we have a lot of them, that you wouldn’t bet against Chase for a couple of hits.”

Even though the Pasadena, California native and former UCLA Bruin is hitting an un-Chase-Utley-like .237 this season, this probably has more to do with the fact that he is basically now a bench player for the first time in his illustrious career – a role that he fully accepted when re-signed by the Dodgers just prior to spring training to the tune of $2 million for the 2017 season and quite possibly the last for the 2008 World Series champion.

As you would expect, Utley never even acknowledged his part in Saturday night’s win over the Braves. He gave those accolades to Chris Taylor, who came on as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning to hit that solo home run only to follow that up with a two-RBI triple in the bottom of the eighth.

“He’s scary, he’s getting better as the season goes on,” Utley said. of the 26-year-old Virginia Beach, Virginia native. “He just puts quality at-bat after quality at-bat together and that’s good to see.”

After homering in his first at-bat in the seventh inning, Taylor lined a two-run triple into the right-center field gap in the eighth inning to give the Dodgers a 6-2 lead and eventual winning score.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Okay, so maybe Chris Taylor might be a better pick for that bottom of the ninth, two-out, runners on base in Game-7 of the World Series … or Justin Turner, or Corey Seager, or Cody Bellinger, or Yasmani Grandal, or Yasiel Puig. But like Dave Roberts said, “You wouldn’t bet against Chase for a couple of hits.”

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(Author’s note: I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the outstanding pitching performance by Dodgers left-hander Rich Hill on Saturday night. The 37-year-old Boston, Massachusetts native allowed only two runs on six hits while walking two and striking out eight in his 6.1 innings of work – all while battling an upper respiratory infection that is currently making its way through the Dodgers clubhouse).

Once a concern every time he took the mound, Dodgers left-hander Rich Hill has been as reliable as ace Clayton Kershaw and co-ace Alex Wood over his past six starts. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)