Ruben Amaro finally has made it clear: Either the Phillies start hitting, or he will find a lineup that will.

More than that, he did not rule out the possibility that they would increase their payroll to the point where they would join the Yankees in paying a luxury tax ... if he thought that would be necessary.

Amaro:  “I haven’t really had a discussion with David (Montgomery) about that one way or the other. Those are things we will have to discuss at the particular time. Hopefully the guys we have here will improve our club and we won’t have to go that route.”

The Phillies' general manager was talking with the press on the field Monday, before the Phillies would thump the Cincinnati Reds, 10-3. His point: The offense has to improve ... and not just for one night.

 
So it's clear: The general manager is watching ... and so are plenty of others. How about the Phils drawing a record regular-season crowd of 45,841 to Citizens Bank Park Monday? The reason, clearly: Chase Utley was making his season debut.

 

Check out my column in the Daily Times Tuesday and on delcotimes.com 

"I could definitely sense how loud the crowd was (on first at bat)," Utley said. "I tried to tune them out a little bit, but they were a little too loud. But we’ll take that all day long."

“If we don’t produce, we are going to have to figure out a way to have them produce,” Amaro said. “Whether it is internally or externally, we’ll have to try to get better. I don’t think we can survive getting --- what? --- two runs a game for the next 100 games.”