By Lesley Van Arsdall

Ryan Howard is getting better.

He was taking ground balls again for a second straight day without the protective boot he’s been wearing since last month.

The real mystery is Utley.

Chase Utley was back at training camp this morning. But what that means no one seems to know. He recently left Florida to see a knee specialist in Arizona.

What we do know is that chronic arthritis just doesn’t suddenly go away.

Even the Phillies seem baffled by what is going on with Utley. Today Ruben Amaro Jr. said there is no update just “He’s back.” Oh, and he did add, “I still think Chase is going to be back at some point, but we just don’t know when.”

That doesn’t sound very promising.

Utley is expected to talk Sunday. Maybe he will tell us what his super secret doctor from an undisclosed location in Arizona had to say? But, I doubt it.