Carlos Ruiz on the cover of Sports Illustrated

Yet another Phillie is on the cover of Sports Illustrated! It's only a regional cover, as Derek Jeter gets the national cover, but its quite a cover. CHOOOOOCH!

Via TheFightins.com.

Commercial: Roy misses Chooch

MLB 2K11 may not be the best baseball video game on the market but they have pulled off the best commercial of the season. Watch below as cover athlete Roy Halladay pines for Carlos Ruiz in the offseason to help him make decisions:

Via The 700 level.

Phillies do in Broxton again, overcome 7-run deficit

Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton must have nightmares about facing the Phillies. The man who regularly implodes against the Phillies in the NLCS was at it again, this time giving up a game-winning double to Carlos Ruiz in the bottom of the 9th to cap off a 10-9 Phillies win that saw them erase a 7-run deficit in the final two innings.

To call it an incredible comeback would be underselling it. According to Fangraphs.com, when Jamey Caroll singled for the Dodgers in the top of the 8th to make the score 9-2, the Phillies had a 0.4% chance of winning the game. From that point forward, however, the Phillie offense exploded, batting around in the 8th inning and picking up 4 runs before plating 4 more runners in the 9th without recording an out. Even more remarkably, all 8 runs were scored without a single home run.

You can hardly be blamed for turning off this one early but hopefully you find a way to watch a replay of the game. Despite not having their two best hitters in the lineup, the Phillies continue to find ways to get things done as they have now won 16 of their last 20 and remain just two games behind the Braves. Hopefully the magic from Thursday night carries over and helps them roll right through the Mets this weekend.
REUTERS/Tim Shaffer

Blown call helps Phillies salvage sweep over Marlins

In a season filled with injuries the Phillies finally look like they are catching some breaks. On Thursday night, with a runner on second and the game tied up in the bottom of the 9th, Marlins hitter Gaby Sanchez rolled a grounder down the third base line that would easily have scored the game-winning run but was instead called foul. Replays clearly showed that the ball stayed fair the whole time but no amount of arguing by the Marlins reversed the call. Capitalizing on the mistake, the Phillies quickly got out of the inning and then won the game after Carlos Ruiz homered in the 10th and Brad Lidge had a (relatively) clean save to help the Phils win 5-4 and finish the sweep in Florida.

Lost in all the madness of the bad call and the terrible baserunning by the Phillies at the end of the game was the performance of Roy Oswalt. In his second start as a Phillie, Oswalt showed why he is still considered one of the better pitchers in the game. Despite having some issues locating his pitches, Oswalt left the game in the 7th with two runners on base and the Phillies up 2-0. A few pitches by J.C. Romero later and Oswalt was on the hook for a pair of earned runs, but he still had a respectable night overall, striking out 5 batters and even retiring 10 straight Marlins at one point. Given how poor he looked in his last outing, it was nice to see the real Oswalt do his thing.

With the Marlins out of the way, the season-best 12 games over .500 Phillies now come home to face the mediocre Mets. The Phillies goal with Ryan Howard should be to tread water and keep the Braves close but they are doing even better than that as they sit only 2 games back. A solid series win against the Mets while the Braves are face the tough Giants pitching could make things even tighter. Winners of 12 of their last 14, the Phillies appear to be making their move.
(AP PHOTO)

Phillies news and notes: Madson is back, Werth to be moved?

Lots of news coming from the Phillies today as they look to finish out the first season on a positive note in a four game series with the Reds:

*Ryan Madson has been activated. Madson, who last pitched in late April, has been on the disabled list for almost two months after he broke his toe when he kicked a chair in frustration. Madson will be a welcome sight to the ragged Phillies bullpen. To make room, the Phillies sent Mike Zagurski back to the minors. Big Mike just doesn't seem ready for the majors right now.

*Carlos Ruiz began his rehab assignment yesterday. Expect Chooch to be back right after the All-Star break.

*Brian Schneider is back in the lineup tonight. Apparently his thumb is feeling a lot better; let's hope that's the last we've seen of Dane Sardinha.

*Finally, the biggest news of the day is something Buster Olney tweeted: the Phillies are talking with teams about the possibility of trading Jayson Werth with the hopes that the team could acquire a starting pitcher in return. This is a move that seems more and more likely to happen every day, what with Werth being a free agent at the end of the season and the Phillies slowly slipping further and further back in the division. While I would hate to see Werth go, if he's going to leave at the end of the season anyway, I would love for the Phillies to be able to turn him into Dan Haren or another starting pitcher of that ilk.

Phillies moves: Rollins is back, Ruiz to the DL, Dobbs a goner

The Phillies made a series of moves in preparation for their series against the Indians:

*Jimmy Rollins was activated from the disabled list
*Greg Dobbs was designated for assignment
*Carlos Ruiz was put on the disabled list
*Mike Zagurski was called up from the minors
*Scott Mathieson has cleared and was optioned to the minors

The biggest move out of all of these is the return of Jimmy Rollins to the lineup. Rollins, who has played a grand total of 14 games this season, should immediately help a struggling offense. While Wilson Valdez and Juan Castro have played well at times, adding J-Roll adds another dangerous bat to the mix. Hopefully he stays healthy this time.

On the other hand, losing Carlos Ruiz, who was put on the DL retroactive to June 19th due to concussion issues, will hurt the offense as the Phillies are forced to turn to Brian Schneider and Dan Sardinha at catcher. Hopefully the concussion symptoms go away quickly for Ruiz and he can be back sometime before the All-Star break.

As for the loss of Greg Dobbs, I join with many Phillies fans in saying good riddance. While Dobbs was once a reliable pinch hitter, his .152 average and meager power this season have turned him into a useless bench player. With no glove to go with no bat, the Phillies made the right call in keeping Valdez and dropping Dobbs.

Finally, Mike Zagurski's return to the Phillies is a nice story because he hasn't pitched in the majors since 2007. Much like Scott Mathieson, Zagurski has made the long recovery from Tommy John surgery and earned another shot in the Phillies pen. The big lefty doesn't have great career numbers (5.91 ERA) but it's always nice to have a second left handed option to call upon.

As the dust settles from this flurry of moves, the Phillies come out with a slightly better lineup and bench. Yes, Carlos Ruiz being out will make the bottom of the order a pair of automatic outs in a row but having Rollins back at the top keeps things from being a complete black hole at 7-8-9. With Rollins back, I'm interested to see what Charlie Manuel does with the order. It's probably safe to assume that Jimmy Rollins will slot back in the leadoff spot but will Shane Victorino bat 2nd or 7th? If everyone starts hitting like they can (a big if, I know), the Phillies lineup should be back to being the best in the NL in the 1-7 spots.

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.

Next up: Phillies sign Ruiz through 2012

So much for arbitration. Just days after Joe Blanton and Shane Victorino signed 3 year deals to avoid arbitration, Carlos Ruiz, the final Phillie facing arbitration this offseason, also signed a 3 year extension to stay with the Phils.

According to Jim Salisbury of CSN Philly, Ruiz has agreed to stay with the Phillies through 2012 for roughly 9 million. Given how valuable Ruiz is as a handler of the pitchers and as a clutch hitter, I'd say the Phillies got a great deal to keep him at 3 million per year.

Your Phillies are now basically set for the next few years. The entire offense, with the exception of Jayson Werth, is under contract for the next two seasons. The top 4 in the rotation (Halladay, Hamels, Blanton and Happ) are also locked in, so the Phillies clearly plan to keep the championship window open by retaining the current roster for as long as possible. It would be nice if the Phillies could also find a way to sign Werth to a long-term deal but they might have a hard time finding enough money in the budget for him.

I, for one, can't wait to see three more years of Choochtober!

A not-so-triumphant return for King Cole

(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Cole Hamels' performance today couldn't look further from what we have come to expect from the World Series MVP. After being pushed back from starting on Opening Day due to a sore elbow, Hamels made his season debut today and put up this sparkling line: 3.2 innings pitched, 1 strikeout, 1 walk, 11 hits allowed and 7 earned runs, an outing that gives him an ERA of 17.18. Needless to say, the Phillies lost to the Colorado Rockies 10-3.

Hamels looked fine in the first inning after he became the first Phillie pitcher to get out of the first frame without giving up a run this season. After that, everything melted down. Hamels had very little velocity on his pitches, topping out around 86 miles per hour, and also had trouble with his location, a definite recipe for disaster, especially in the hitters haven known as Colorado. It's pretty clear that Hamels tried to rush back to the mound when he isn't anywhere near ready to pitch in a real game. Health wise, Hamels may be fine but his arm needs to be stretched out a lot more than it is right now. There is no word yet on whether he will make his next start.

Hamels' poor performance put the offense in a bad position yet again as they were forced to try to overcome a large deficit. The Phils managed only 7 hits in the game, 4 of them coming from Jayson Werth, who doubled and homered and scored all 3 Phillie runs.

To make a bad game even worse, Carlos Ruiz strained a muscle in his rib cage in the game and may go on the DL. The Phillies have already asked minor leaguer Lou Marson to fly out to Denver and be ready should the team need another catcher.

With the Ruiz injury and another poor performance by a starting pitcher, not much has gone right for the Phillies so far this season. It's still early, but every game in the season counts the same in the standings no matter when it's played. Hopefully another slow April start won't hurt them come September.