Chase Utley’s hitting streak was thisclose to being over tonight, as he stepped to the plate in the eighth inning, having gone 0-for-4 in his previous at-bats.  It was a high-scoring game with the Phillies up over the St. Louis Cardinals at that point, 11-7, and Utley can thank his teammates and their mashing of the Cardinals pitchers for allowing him to get extra at-bats to extend the streak.  And the fifth at-bat for Utley in the eighth was a somewhat controversial one too.  At least for several minutes.

Utley hit a grounder to the third base side of the mound, which P Randy Flores fielded and proceeded to check the Phillies’ Shane Victoriano, who was on third base.  Flores turned to first to throw out Utley, but threw wide and late to the bag, pulling 1B Albert Pujols off the base.  It was obvious that Utley would have beat the throw regardless if the throw was wide or accurate.

However, official scorer, Mike Smith initially ruled it a fielder’s choice.  But, after watching replays Smith changed his call to a hit.  Smith cited section 10.06 of the Official Baseball Rules, which states that a hit should be scored when a fielder looks or feints at a base before throwing late.  Utley eventually singled again in the ninth inning in a Phillies 16-8 drubbing of the Cardinals.

Next up for Utley as he goes for 35 straight games with a hit is the Cardinals Jason Marquis, whom Utley owns a .444 lifetime BA in nine at-bats.