ST. LOUIS - The final day of the worst April of Chase Utley's major-league career started and ended in the visitors' dugout at Busch Stadium. The struggling second baseman was given a game off Thursday afternoon in the Phillies' 9-3 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.
Utley has been mired in a 3-for-45 slump since his two-homer performance against the Mets. His month went in the books with a woeful .114 batting average. That ranks dead last among 182 qualified major-league hitters. His .398 on-base-plus-slugging percentage ranks next to last.
"Obviously," Utley said, "it's a month that could've gone a lot better.