For Utley, friendship not Rockie situation

Chase Utley planned to go to dinner with Rockies third baseman Garrett Atkins last night.

This would surely irk Mets manager Willie Randolph, who complained amid his team's collapse that he wished opposing players wouldn't fraternize with one another so much.

What Randolph, a player from the 1970s, seems to have trouble grasping is how the journey to the majors has changed for many of today's ballplayers. Utley and Atkins, for example, became close friends while playing for UCLA, and that friendship has grown through grueling offseason workouts throughout their brief major league careers.

"I think it's pretty easy to balance it," Utley said after practice yesterday. "On the field, I want to win, and imagine he wants the same thing.

"I think we do push each other a little bit. We're always talking baseball in the offseason and ...