Phillies win as Hamels flashes 2008 form and Ruiz flashes October bat

Carlos Ruiz must be confused about what month it is. The Phillies clutch catcher, who usually comes up with big hit after big hit in the playoffs, hit a walkoff homer in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Phillies a 2-1 win over the Cardinals. For a man who has a month named after him (Choochtober), Ruiz sure picked a great time for his first home run of the season.

Despite the late heroics by Ruiz, the true star of Tuesday night's game was Cole Hamels. Hamels had his best start of the season, scattering 8 hits and striking out 8 while giving up 1 one run across 8 innings of work. While Hamels may have been thrown off his rhythm by some idiot fan (who I refuse to talk about), he showed flashes of the brilliant pitcher that he was in 2008. If he can get going, the Phillies might have the 1-2 punch they always dreamed of with Hamels and Roy Halladay.

While it's only May, wins like the Phillies got on Tuesday night against a good Cardinals club are big; sure, it might be just another W in the win column but it was nice to see they measure up against a team that is sure to be a playoff contender. Of course, if these two teams do meet in October, we know who is going to come up with the clutch hits.