Catchers

A thirty three old rookie from South Dakota and the man who has the worst radio commercial of all time (Fastball. Slider. I know a sales pitch when I see it. Guh) held down the pitching staff for 161 games this year.

Carlos Ruiz

Chooch! My personal favorite Ruiz moment this season was during game 1 of the NLDS when I yelled “C’mon, Chooch!” and Rushir thought I was making a racist comment. Moving on. Carlos was, in a word, terrible in the regular season. His greatest moment probably came April 21st at Colorado, when his two run two out double with bases loaded gave the Phillies a 6-5 lead in a game they would win 9-5. I told you it was slim pickings. He did play an inning at third base against the Mets though, which was interesting.

However, come October a new Carlos Ruiz, dubbed “postseason ‘los” by Bobby Careless, appeared. He was suddenly an all-star catcher. He had the game winning RBI in TWO World Series games (1 and 3). I would say that 45-foot laser that won Game 3 was the best, especially since it started a dogpile in the middle of the living room at 2 AM. Vickery was involved. People were injured.

Chris Coste

Costie is a Hall of Fame level player according to Gor. Certainly a solid backup catcher. Coste’s moment of the regular season is also one of my favorite regular season moments. August 26th against the Mets, Phils fall behind 7-0 only to come roaring back to tie it in the 9th and win in the 13th. Coste drove in the winning run shortly after Ken woke up from his seat down the third base line. Fantastic game that Hewitt and I scalped tickets to.

Unfortunately postseason ‘los really limited his playoff opportunities. He did get a pinch hit in the Game 3 loss to LA, and became the first Phillie to DH in the World Series in 15 years.

Lou Marson

Lou Marson won an Olympic medal as the starting catcher for the US Olympic team in August. Hit his first major league home run in September. He won a World Series ring in October. Lou Marson is 22 years old and a future millionaire. God my life is aimless.

Lou’s moment of the regular season was undoubtedly his only appearance, on September 28th. In the final meaningless game of the season, Lou started and went 2-4 with a double and a HR. He didn’t appear on the playoff roster, but was the bullpen catcher and participated in every on field celebration. Sweet life, Lou.