2012 Phillies Team Issue 2 #51 Carlos Ruiz

Phillies 7, Brewers 6
Game 98 - Tuesday Night, July 24th in Philadelphia
Record - 44-54, 5th Place, 14 games behind the Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies did it again, stunning the Brewers with a six-run eighth inning and winning the game, 7-6.

What It Means:  Wow!  Phillies baseball is exciting again!  They've won three games in a row and they'll go for the sweep this afternoon.

What Went Right:  Cliff Lee had another off-night, departing after seven innings, trailing 6-1.  It looked like yet another in a line of lopsided defeats until the team mounted an improbable comeback in the eighth.

Pinch-hitter Erik Kratz started the scoring with a two-run home run off Manny Parra, making it 6-3.  Parra then proceeded to walk the bases loaded and up stepped Carlos Ruiz, the clear-cut team MVP.  Chooch delivered with a three-run, game tying double and it was a new ballgame.  Hunter Pence blooped in a hit to right to score Ruiz and the comeback was complete.

2011 Topps Diamond Duos #DD-3

Featured Cards:  (I wrote this first bit before last night's bottom of the eighth.)  It's hard to find a good reason to post any of these Diamond Duos cards, inserted into last year's Topps set.  But last night's Lee-Greinke match-up makes this the perfect card for this post.  Greinke definitely got the best of the struggling Lee, even hitting a home run off Lee in the seventh.

And of course, Chooch's clutch three-run double completely negated the bad vibes caused by Lee's tough night.  So the new featured card became Ruiz's from the recently released Phillies Team Issue, Series 2.