2010 Chachi #42 Cody Ransom

Phillies 9, Reds 7 (10 Innings)
Game 85 - Friday Night, July 9th in Philadelphia

Unbelievable! This post was going to be about how lifeless the Phils look (again), and I had been debating if I should feature a Miguel Cairo baseball card (3 for 5 last night) or a Cliff Lee baseball card (traded to the Rangers yesterday) in the game summary. The Phillies sleepwalked through the first 8 innings of this game, finding themselves down 7-1 heading into the bottom of the 9th. They were getting completely out-played by the 1st place Cincinnati Reds. Joe Blanton was awful. He lasted into the 6th inning, allowing 6 runs on 12 hits. His ERA is now at 6.41, which is not very good.

And then the improbable happened. I didn't get too excited when Shane Victorino started the bottom of the 9th with a double, and then came around to score on a Ryan Howard single. 7-2 Reds. And I'll actually admit I called Greg Dobbs a ding-dong before his 3-run home run to make it 7-5 Reds. (That's right. I called him a ding-dong. Out loud.) But then pinch hitter Ben Francisco walked with 2 outs, and I was mildly interested. Up stepped pinch hitter Cody Ransom, who is on the roster solely due to the spate of injuries to the team. Ransom launched an 0-1 Francisco Cordero fastball into the first row of the right field seats for a 2-run home run and we were suddenly tied up with the Reds, 7-all.

All of that set up Howard's 2-run walk-off home run in the 10th, as the Phils won 9-7. It was the second walk-off home run in extra innings in as many days. Howard had the dramatic winning blast, but it was all made possible by Ransom's improbable pinch-hit home run in the 9th. Ransom is card #42 in this year's Chachi set.

Phillies debut: July 3, 2010
Major League debut: September 5, 2001
How acquired: Signed as a minor league free agent formerly with the New York Yankees, December 14, 2009.
Others wearing #12 in the 2000s: Mickey Morandini 2000, Brian L. Hunter 2001, Eric Valent 2002-2003, Anderson Machado 2003-2004, Ryan Howard 2004, Ramon Martinez 2005, Randall Simon 2006, Tadahito Iguchi 2007, T.J. Bohn 2008, Matt Stairs 2008-2009
2009 Postseason: Ransom finished the 2009 season with AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and didn't appear on the Yankees' Postseason roster.
Pictured: It's hard to track down a good picture of Ransom in a Phillies uniform. This shot was scanned from the Phillies 2010 Yearbook.