Late-night notes from the win over the Mets

Years from now, when they are putting together the book on Carlos Ruiz, it will show that the catcher picked up his first big-league hit against Pedro Martinez. The Pedro Martinez, as in one of those guys who goes only by a first name like Dean, Sammy, Frank, and Liza.

Just Pedro.

Let the record show it was a hard hit ball to right field in the second inning.

Meanwhile, Ruiz has a pretty strong reputation as a solid receiver behind the plate. After working with him in the past, Ryan Madson said Ruiz is easy to throw to and sets a nice target. Following Tuesday night's start where he allowed five hits and no walks in eight innings -- the longest outing by a Phillies' starter this season -- Brett Myers had nothing but praise for Ruiz.

"We were on the same page and he never caught me before," Myers said. "He's not intimidated back there."

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Aaron Rowand is still hitting the ball well after his rough first week of the season -- does anyone remember that at this point? During this undefeated homestand, Rowand is 9-for-22 with four homers despite claiming that he's a notoriously slow starter. He also said he was pretty successful in losing a few bad habits he picked up late last year.

Such as?

"Leaning in over the plate."

A World Champion with the White Sox last year, Rowand said the current winning streak is especially good since the Phillies are doing it so early in the season. After all, the season is a rollercoaster ride filled with peaks and valleys and all of those other fun cliches, right?

"It's nice to get it early than later when it could be too late," he said.

Meanwhile, as his hand (the same hand he broke by getting hit by a pitch in '03) swelled up like a balloon and turned a dark shade of purple in the minutes following his plunking by Pedro in the sixth inning of the win over the Mets, Rowand refused to come out of the game. Fortunately, X-rays came back negative, but for a little while it appeared as if Rowand might have had a significant injury.

And if there is one guy the Phillies DO NOT want to lose, it's Aaron Rowand. The man is a baseball player.

Still, Rowand said his lone at-bat following getting hit was not fun and he was not looking forward to gripping the bat for another. Luckily for Rowand and the Phillies, Bobby Abreu ended the game with his walk-off E-1.

***
When a game is on, I do not root for one team or another. Instead, I hope for something that will be a good story. The story is what I root for. However, there are quite a few players I like to watch more than others, such as Scott Rolen, Albert Pujols, John Smoltz, Jim Thome to name a few. Of this current crop of Phillies, Aaron Rowand is a very entertaining player to watch... next time you come to the park, watch him position himself on every pitch in center field. He can really play that position well.