Baseball's two best second basemen are on the mend. Dustin Pedroia ran before the Red Sox game at Yankee Stadium and Chase Utley showed up at Citizen Bank Park before the Phillies' game against the Mets without a splint on his right hand.

Both teams made sure to temper any optimism about a quick return, though.

Pedroia ran sprints and manager Terry Francona told reporters his start isn't running naturally on his broken foot.

"I thought he made a lot of improvement, which is great," Francona said. "It's still healing. For him to accept that is very difficult. But I thought he had a good day. For him, a good day is not going to be until he is in the lineup."

That's still likely more than a week away.

Although Utley said he's not allowed to hit or throw until he sees a doctor next week, but has taken ground balls for the past few weeks.

Utley told reporters that he'd like to return by the end of this month -- which would be right at eight weeks, the initial prognosis.

"I'm extremely eager to get back," Utley said. "I've been going nuts on the bench."

-- C. Trent Rosecrans

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