Thursday, May 17, 2012

2012 Topps Stickers #190 Carlos Ruiz

Phillies 9, Cubs 2
Game 38 - Wednesday Night, May 16th in Chicago
Record - 19-19, 5th Place, 4 1/2 games behind the Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  Kyle Kendrick gave the Phils a solid spot start and Carlos Ruiz' homer in the eighth broke a 2-2 tie before the offense piled it on and downed the Cubs, 9-2.

What It Means:  The Phillies are back at .500.  Let's keep this going.

What Went Right:  Kendrick got the nod when Vance Worley landed on the disabled list with a bad elbow.  In his six innings of work, he allowed two runs (one earned) and struck out four.  He would have had a chance for the win had Juan Pierre not dropped a routine fly ball in the fourth, which gave the Cubs a baserunner when Alfonso Soriano launched a home run into left.

Ruiz broke the tie in the eighth with his seventh home run.  The Phils added six big runs in the ninth, highlighted by Hector Luna's grand slam.  It was Luna's first at-bat as a Phillie and his first career slam.

Featured Card:  It's awesome to be able to show off so many of Chooch's cards this year, as he's off to the best season of his career.  As of this writing, he leads all National League catchers in home runs (7) and RBIs (24) and he's second in the league in hits (37) and runs scored (19).  This is his sticker from the aptly named Topps Stickers set.

Luna would have been a good candidate for this post's featured card, but he has yet to appear on any official Phillies cards.  (Hurry up, second edition of the Phillies team issued set!)

No comments: