Phillies-Yankees: Ruiz Sends Phillies Fans Home Winners

Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz ripped a two-out double in the 11th inning yesterday to score Chase Utley to secure the both the win and the series against the baseball royalty, the New York Yankees.

This win also capped an 8-2 road trip record that went through Cincinnati, Washington, and culminated in New York yesterday with a 4-3 11-inning victory.

“We earned it,” Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said.

Charlie isn’t lying when he says that. Brad Lidge continuing his day-to-day horror show for the fans did it again in the ninth yesterday. After giving up the tying run, Lidge settled down and gave the Phils a chance to go ahead and win.

“I’ve got a lot of confidence,” Manuel said. “He’s got a lot of talent. He’s got a big fastball and a good slider. You know what he needs? Just to get ’em out one more time. That’s what he needs. He’s fine.”

‘Today was totally different than yesterday. I felt great. I was throwing the ball where I wanted to,” Lidge said. 

“They got two ground balls that weren’t necessarily hit that well, and a stolen base in there and that was a recipe for a run. The things I was in control of today I feel real good about.”

Carlos Ruiz came up in the 11th inning with the game on the line basically for the Phillies. But, Manuel said after the game that he thought about pinch-hitting for Ruiz. Thank goodness he didnt follow through.

Chase Utley walked to get on base with two outs. Utley stole second base to get in scoring position. Ruiz had a great at-bat, fouling off three pitches before driving in Utley for the winning run with a double to left-field.

“Once he (Utley) stole second base, I knew it was a big at-bat for me,” Ruiz said. “I got a good pitch to hit, and I made good contact.”

Clay Condrey came back to the mound in the bottom of the 11th to secure the win in his second inning of relief work.

Ruiz fininshed the day going 3-for-4 with a double, an RBI, and a walk. He is .438 with five doubles, one home run, eight RBIs, eight walks, a .550 on-base percentage and .688 slugging percentage in his past nine games.

Cole Hamels was solid on the mound once again and the Phils every chance to push the lead even further. The troubling fact of his start was that he threw 109 pitches though six innings. While Yankees ace CC Sabathia went eight innings barely going over the century mark.

“They’re a tough team and they definitely make you pitch,” Hamels said. “You really have to be more effective earlier in the count because they make you work a lot harder than you should.”

Hamels was surprised with the Mark Teixeira homer in the sixth. The pitch shattered his bat, but Teixeira powered his way to a home run five rows over the left-field wall to bring the Phillies lead to only one, 3-2.

“Most of the time when you hear a broken bat you’re like, ‘OK, that’s a popup,'” Hamels said. “Unfortunately, he’s a strong a guy and he got the barrel on the ball and it just took off. I looked up and saw Jayson Werth run in and I was like, ‘it’s definitely an out,’ but there’s a first for everything. That’s definitely the first broken-bat home run.”

Hamels is 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA over his last five starts, thats great news for Phillies fans and the team as a whole.

It was an emotional win for the Phils, their first series in the brand-new palace that is Yankee Stadium. 

Jamie Moyer will look for his second consecutive quality start at Citizens Bank Park tonight as Philadelphia begins a three-game set with the Florida Marlins. The Phillies are 24-18 and are a game and a half over the Mets for tops in the NL East.

 

Note

Shane Victorino continued his dominance over CC Sabathia, going 3-for-5 yesterday against the powerful lefty.