WHEN THE PHILLIES VISITED Coors Field earlier this season, Chase Utley homered off Rockies lefthander Mark Redman in the series opener.

Colorado's Matt Holliday, a slugger whose grip-and-rip approach at the plate helped him hit 36 home runs while leading the league in runs batted in last season, couldn't believe the Phillies' All-Star second baseman had been able to drive a baseball that far with his short, blink-and-you'll-miss-it swing.

So, the following afternoon behind the batting cage, Holliday did what ballplayers do. He made fun of Utley.

First, he demonstrated his own mighty hack, swinging from the heels with all the force he could muster. Then he mimicked a dainty little poke, exaggerating how small it seemed by comparison to make a point. Everybody, including Utley, thought it was hilarious.

Different strokes ...

Holliday finished second in the National League Most Valuable Player balloting in 2007 by doing it his way. But some believe that Utley's compact, hummingbird-quick left-handed swing had him on track to win the award before a broken hand sidelined him for a month.

It also got him off to a strong start this year. Through June 28, the lanky 29-year-old led the majors in homers (23). He was also eighth in slugging percentage (.612) and OPS (.997) while batting .298 with 65 RBL He maintained those numbers despite struggling in the month of June 24-for-90 (.267).

Because his swing is so short, the Phillies aren't worried that he will go into a full-blown slump. "His swing is getting a little long," hitting coaches say ominously when a hitter starts to struggle. That happens much less frequently with Utley than with sluggers, whose big swings make them notoriously inconsistent.

Now, there's no such thing as a perfect swing. Or is there? Utley's method is so fundamentally sound that some longtime baseball men wonder.

"At times he can put close to what you'd call a perfect swing on the ball," Phillies manager/hitting guru Charlie Manuel said. "It's good balance, rhythm, load, and at the same time getting a ball that you'd like to hit. And just, very slight, underneath the center of the ball.

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"He's a very stylish hitter. He's a good guy to talk about because, if you watch him day in and day out and look at him from a mechanics standpoint, he would be a tremendous guy to use as a demonstration for young kids."

Added Phillies hitting coach Milt Thompson: "I don't know if there's a perfect swing. But his is as close to it as you can be. He's amazing, one of the most amazing hitters I've ever seen."

When the pitcher goes into his delivery, Utley's hands and bat go quiet. As the ball approaches, he goes up onto the toe of his right foot. Then, with a barely perceptible weight transfer, his bat slashes through the hitting zone with surgical precision.

Did Utley learn this by watching a favorite big leaguer while growing up? Did it come from his dad or a coach? Or was it just serendipity, a natural talent that he was blessed to be born with?

If he knows, he isn't saying. "You're not going to get much good stuff from me," Utley said, politely but firmly, when approached recently.

This much can be determined. He had the swing when the Phillies made him their No. 1 draft pick in June 2000. He had it when he got to UCLA. And he even had it as a youngster at Long Beach Polytechnic High.

"It's never really changed," Phillies assistant general manager, scouting and player development Mike Arbuckle said. "He's always had the same approach. I don't know how it happened, but I think part of it is natural. He's a baseball rat who grew up in Southern California, so he had a chance to play a lot as a kid. He got a lot of swings in."

Gary Adams was the Bruins' coach when Utley was in college. "It looks the same to me," he said. "Chase has that magic formula of quick hands and an accurate eye. He throws the bat at the ball so quickly his hands are a blur."

Adams also coached such future big-league stars as Troy Glaus, Garrett Atkins and Eric Byrnes, but says Utley stood apart.

"I've had a lot of good hitters, but Chase is different from them," he said. "You know, we use aluminum bats in college. Chase was unusual in that he had to make very little adjustment to the wood bat compared to the rest of the guys. He could get the bat around so quickly. Even in high school, it was hard to believe a guy that skinny could hit the ball that far.

"You don't just go up to a guy and say, 'Hit like Chase Utley.' Because he probably won't be able to do it." Ken Munger was the coach at Long Beach Poly, a school that produced Milton Bradley and current Dodgers prospect James McDonald, when Utley was an underclassman. "The only difference I see now is that he's bigger," Munger said. "He was a skinny, little runt back then. But he had extremely quick hands and the point of contact was always in the right place.