I remember back in spring training, sitting in the seats at the Phillies park in Clearwater and my buddy said to me, "I bet Carlos Ruiz hits .300 this year." Naturally, I thought the cheap beer or the priceless sunshine had gotten to his head and sure enough, Ruiz fell way short. As a matter of fact, he did well to hit .255 for the year, raising his average 36 points over the 2008 WFC campaign.
But when you think about all a catcher has to take care of in a game -- he has to know his pitchers better than their wives, he has to know the opposing hitters almost as well, he has to keep baserunners in check, squat for hours on end, survived being beaned with foul balls, etc. -- it's amazing any catcher ever hits .250. It's easily one of the toughest positions in all of sports to play.
Yet somehow, Chooch manages to kick it up a notch in the post-season. From the 2007 NLDS on, Ruiz has a .296 average with a .383/.437 on-base/slugging average.
It's hard to single out anyone in particular from last evening's Phillies win over the Dodgers as the real hero, because there were too many. Without Ryan Howard's double, the Phillies don't win. Same for Raul Ibanez' home run, same for Chan Ho Park's pulse-racing hold in the 7th inning.
But it was Carlos Ruiz' 3-run home run that got everything started in the 5th inning. He game them a lead they never surrendered. Way to go Chooch.
-----------------
If you found this post tolerable, you can read more from this author at Balls, Sticks & Stuff, one of the longest running Philly sports blogs and home to the Phloggers' Pheeds page. You can also follow him on Twitter.
Original Story:
http://www.the700level.com/2009/10/el...
