Championship Player Profile - The Catchers

Tuesday, November 4, 2008 ·

Carlos Ruiz - Though Ruiz struggled at the plate, he was very good defensively and called games well. In 2008, Ruiz had a CERA of 3.83, good enough for 4th among qualifying catchers. Ruiz was so important with the addition of Brad Lidge because of his ability to block Lidge's vicious slider.

Throughout the season, his job behind the plate was overshadowed by his struggles at the plate. He will never offer much in terms of OPS, but he doesn't strike out much. He almost always makes contact and when you continously put the ball in play, luck will come into effect.

Look at what happened in the playoffs. For most of the regular season, Ruiz was hitting the ball at people, which can be seen by his BABIP. Once September came around, he started finding open spots in the field and it carried into the playoffs. His two biggest hits all season came in game 3 of the World Series. He homered and hit a dribbler that caused enough trouble to score the game-winner. In game 2, Ruiz reached base 4 times and went 2 for 2.

Ruiz didn't do much against Milwaukee and many people called for Chris Coste. Ruiz kept battling and was able to hit .313 in the NLCS and .375 in the World Series. Also, Ruiz reached base 50% of the time in the World Series. Both behind the plate and in the batters box, Ruiz was the unsung hero.

Chris Coste - Coste did well to spell Ruiz behind the dish. During most of the season Coste was an upgrade offensively, but a downgrade at blocking balls. In 250 ABs starting at catcher, Coste knocked in 36 runs and scored 27. He also hit 15 doubles and 9 home runs to provide the Phillies potent offense with some extra pop. One of his biggest hits this year came on August 26th against the Mets. After the Phillies battled back to tie the Mets from down 7, Chris entered the game in the 8th and went 4-4, while knocking in the GW run in the bottom of the 13th.

It was a complete team effort this year and everyone had their helping hand. Continue coming back to the site as we will be analyzing the contributions of everyone else on the team.

Below is video of Carlos Ruiz GW hit:


And here is the rest of it.

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We Hate to Lose began in October 2007. The initial purpose of the website was to provide news updates and commentary on all four major sports teams in Philadelphia. Because of time-constraints, in April of 2009, I decided to post only on my first-love, the Philadelphia Phillies.

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