May 16, 2012; Chicago, IL, USA; Philadelphia Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz hits a solo home run during the eighth inning against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-US PRESSWIRE

Sure he’s adorable, he does a really good job handling the pitchers and he’s a solid defensive catcher, but we can never really expect lofty numbers from the erstwhile backstop known as Chooch.  Okay, maybe we can amend that to include some clutch postseason hits.  Apparently this season has transformed Carlos Ruiz into Carlton Fisk.  Chooch hit a go ahead home run in the top of the eighth to give the chance to hang on for dear life to a one run lead before a bunch of random dudes got some hits off some other random dudes and made this one a laugher.

Vance Worley’s arm is hurt.  This means that Kyle Kendrick will get yet another chance to slot into the rotation in an attempt to make us all find out where he lives and kill his cats.  I mentioned yesterday in my recap that Kyle would surely do fine if the wind was blowing in, good thing for all of us, it was.  Kendrick only allowed three hits in six innings and generally didn’t look like the worst pitcher in baseball.   (more…)

Joe Blanton, intimidation personified. Howard Smith-US PRESSWIRE

I apologise to everyone about the timing of this post.  I spent the last few days laid up with a stomach virus, managing to watch this game laying in bed using that game-day function on mlb.com.  If you have ever watched a game with this thing, it is essentially a strike zone with a guy standing on its respective side of the plate, with the balls and strikes indicated by different colored circles.  If I could have gotten out of bed, I would have turned on the radio. 

Hey!  Look at that!  After all the fat jokes and trade rumors, Joe Blanton has looked down right impressive of late.  He gave up one run on six hits in seven innings of work.  (more…)