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Phillies' Utley showing signs of life

Jun 26, 2008 - 12:58 PM Philadelphia (43-36) at Oakland (42-35) 3:35 pm. EDT

OAKLAND (Ticker) -- Chase Utley looks to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to consecutive victories for the first time in almost two weeks on Thursday in the finale of a three-game series with the Oakland Athletics.

The National League's leading vote-getter for the All-Star Game, Utley was moved to second in the order and responded with a 4-for-5 night as the Phillies snapped a six-game losing streak with a 4-0 victory over the A's on Wednesday.

The slugging second baseman had been stuck in a 1-for-29 rut prior to that. Utley, who is second in baseball with 22 home runs, will try and help Philadelphia win two straight for the first time since June 12-13.

Philadelphia also received an impressive performance from Kyle Kendrick on Wednesday as the righthander allowed just four hits in eight innings.

Adam Eaton (2-5, 4.94 ERA) may have a difficult time duplicating that performance. Eaton is winless in his last three starts and has been tagged for 12 runs and 29 hits in his last 17 2/3 innings.

Oakland counters with Rich Harden (4-0, 2.44), who has allowed three runs or less in each of his last seven starts.

The injury-proned righthander has been relatively healthy this season, and is on pace for the best campaign of his career. The Victoria, British Columbia native allowed one run and five hits in 5 2/3 innings, but did not factor into the decision in a 7-6 win over Florida on Friday.