Blogs > Phollowing the Phillies

Insight, observations (and whatever else comes to mind) on the trails of the team that ended the quarter century-long parade drought in the City of Brotherly Love - the Philadelphia Phillies.



Sunday, August 30, 2009

Ruiz's revival

I just found this interesting, since Carlos Ruiz is often overlooked, or only mentioned when he isn't hitting. Check out his numbers this month:

He's hitting .306 (18-for-59) with three home runs and 11 RBIs in 20 games. In case you missed it, he had three hits and accounted for the game-winning hit Sunday night.

Of course, he was overshadowed by another strong start by Joe Blanton, solid and smart defense by Jimmy Rollins, a rare appearance from Scott Eyre (who hadn't pitched in two weeks) and, of course, everyone's favorite closer to panic about, Brad Lidge. (Lidge has looked awfully good in five of his last six, by the way).

But, again, don't forget about the guy they call "Chooch." He's raised his average this month from .223 to a respectable .242.

Hey, he's not going to win a batting title. But in an offense flooded with All-Stars, Ruiz will get overlooked when he is hitting more often than not.

And given the team's current problem with runners in scoring position, it shouldn't be ignored that Ruiz came through Sunday night in an important one-run win over a division rival.

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