A Catcher Stole Home?

Yes, Carlos Ruiz stole home in the Phillies 11-4 victory over the Reds Tuesday night. The last time any catcher stole home? Sometime in 1980. At least I think that's what the graphic said. Hey, I'm not fucking Elias, okay? Deal with it. As for some clarification on Ruiz's steal, it was a delayed double steal. He took off right after the catcher attempted, in vain, to throw out Michael Bourn at 2nd. It was awesome.

The Phillies patchwork rotation continues to hold up, as they got 6 good innings from Kyle Kendrick, who improves to 2-0 after out-dueling highly touted Reds rookie Homer Bailey, who didn't make it out of the 2nd inning. Ryan Howard hit his 17th home run and struck out 4 times, which he has been doing all too often this year. I'm a tad concerned, but as far as the Phillies go, Howard making contact is a minor issue. There's still that thing called the bullpen that isn't doing too well.

Also, Chase Utley went 3-4 with his 13th homer, improving his average to .325. What a stud. Meanwhile, the Phils are only 2.5 games out of first place, not that we haven't seen that before. I'll be satisfied when the playoffs start and the Phillies are involved. Still, if they can get through this rash of injuries to the rotation, they should be in good shape.