Major League Baseball

A key cog at plate, and behind it, too

Published Oct. 15, 2010 10:11 a.m. ET

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Brad Lidge and Carlos Ruiz share a moment engraved in Phillies history, captured on a Sports Illustrated cover - Lidge dropping to his knees, hands to the skies, Ruiz first to him, after the 2008 World Series ended with a Lidge slider landing in his catcher's glove.

Asked if the connection created a bond that still stands, Lidge said, "There's this feeling. I know at different times this year, when I started getting things going – he kind of would look at me and say, 'Now, that's you.' You could kind of tell we were getting that feeling going again, where everything was going right."

Making use of past glory, but not living on it or looking ahead too far, Lidge said.

"We have that feeling of the possibilities, what could happen," Lidge said this week as the Phillies prepared to face the Giants in the National League Championship Series. "At the same time, we don't let ourselves think that far ahead."

At this point, Ruiz is almost expected to have big postseason moments. They keep piling up. He still has the only walk-off infield single in World Series history, that 30-footer that ended Game 3 in '08 at 1:47 in the morning.

"I know I will remember this night for the rest of my life," Ruiz said early that morning, just after 2 a.m. He had also hit a home run that night.

Last season, Ruiz had a lesser but still crucial big moment. He hit a towering home run deep past the inside of the left-field foul pole at Dodger Stadium, a three-run shot in the fifth inning that gave the Phillies their first lead in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series.

This postseason, Ruiz already has a moment. He caught Roy Halladay's National League division series Game 1 no-hitter. Halladay only shook him off once, early in the count facing the last batter of the game. That hitter, Brandon Phillips, eventually hit one that didn't go even as far as Ruiz's 30-footer. The catcher made the throw from his knees for the last out. Another Ruiz moment that will be remembered partly for the oddness of it. Ruiz had to grab the ball away from a dropped bat before he could make the throw.

Ruiz, who has been unavailable to the media this week, has thrown together a lot of little moments to go with the big ones. In four appearances in the National League Championship Series and the World Series, Ruiz has never hit less than .313 in a series. He hit that in '08 against the Dodgers, then hit .375 against Tampa Bay in the World Series. Last year, Ruiz hit .385 against the Dodgers in the NLCS and .333 against the Yankees in the World Series.

In 131 postseason plate appearances, Ruiz has struck out just six times and never more than twice in a series. His postseason on-base percentage is .427. He has also grounded into just two double plays in those 131 appearances.

There are advantages to hitting in the No. 8 hole. There were times in past years, Charlie Manuel pointed out, pitchers would "go at him, give him strikes to hit. . . . Now, they pitch to him different."

That's the other thing, the catcher's regular-season improvement since he began playing in the postseason. It's impossible to chart how much of it has been helped by his strong postseasons. But it hasn't hurt.

Lidge said Ruiz is finally getting the attention he deserves for his defensive ability now that he's hitting more.

"It's kind of like the Gold Glove," Lidge said. "You're never going to win it, no matter how good you are defensively, unless you hit."

That defensive ability obviously has been part of the equation in October. Joe Blanton said all Phillies pitchers basically have the same opinion about the way Ruiz expertly calls a game. But their comfort zone with Ruiz goes beyond that, Blanton said. "Receiving the ball. Blocking the ball. Just the way he commands the game behind the plate."

During the Halladay no-hitter, Ruiz told himself to relax and have fun with it. That night in '08 after Ruiz squibbed his 30-foot game-winner, he pretty much said the same thing about being up with the game on the line.

"I didn't try to do too much," Ruiz said.

Contact staff writer Mike Jensen at 215-854-4489

or mjensen@phillynews.com.

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