2013 Choice Lehigh Valley IronPigs Update #21 Darin Ruf

Cubs 7, Phillies 1
Game 137 - Sunday Afternoon, September 1st in Chicago
Record - 62-75, 4th Place, 21 1/2 games behind the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  Kyle Kendrick had yet enough rough outing as the Phillies fell to the Cubs, 7-1.

What It Means:  I think it's safe to say at this point that Kendrick can't be relied upon to fill a spot in the team's 2014 pitching rotation.  In his last 12 starts, Kendrick has a 6.23 ERA.

What Went Wrong:  Kendrick allowed five runs on eight hits in his six innings of work and from what I saw, he was getting hit hard.  Reliever J.C. Ramirez allowed two runs in his one inning of work to raise his ERA to 9.18.

Featured Card:  The lone bright spot in this game for the Phillies was Darin Ruf who hit his 12th home run of the season.  Ruf's home run provides me with a good enough excuse to feature his card from the Lehigh Valley IronPigs' update set, made available a few weeks ago.

And here's the thing about this set - it's my opinion that the design used for this set is the best design on a baseball card in 2013.  That's a bold statement, but I can't find another card design from any of this year's sets that I like better.  Wouldn't a whole set of Topps cards using this design look awesome?

It's got easy to read player name and full team name, a team logo, the player's position and the card is color coded to match up with the IronPigs' colors.  It's got a unique design, reminiscent of something Topps, Fleer or Donruss would have put out during the good old days.  Ignore the little Verizon Wireless logo in the corner, and it's a fantastic looking baseball card.

So what do you think?  Is this the design of the year, or is there something better out there?