Utley Out Until June

We're about to see just how much Ryan Howard can really carry a team:

If the Philadelphia Phillies weren't aware before Thursday of how hard it can be to repeat, the World Series champs know that now.

The team announced Thursday that second baseman Chase Utley will need right hip surgery that potentially could keep him out until the first week of June.

Utley consistently downplayed speculation about his bad hip during the second half of the postseason. But the Phillies revealed Thursday that since the World Series, he has had the hip evaluated by Phillies team physician Michael Ciccotti, of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital's Rothman Institute, and by Dr. Bryan Kelly, of the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.

That, as they say, is major.

(thanks to Jason at IIATMS for the heads up)