Chase Utley and Carlos Ruiz celebrate after they scored on a single by Marlon Byrd during the ninth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday, April 24, 2014, in LA. The Phillies defeated the Dodgers 7-3. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
With a nice 7-3 victory on Thursday night the Phillies completed the series victory in L.A., taking three of four from the previously-hot Dodgers. Ryne Sanberg's club woke up some of their colder bats in the process. Carlos Ruiz was simply on fire in L.A. and really got out of the rut he was in coming into the road trip.
It was a Chooch double in the ninth inning that broke the 3-3 tie (VIDEO) and gave the Phillies a two-run lead that proved to be enough. They added some insurance runs in the inning as well, which are always welcome given the way the Phils bullpen can be.
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Ruiz reached base an impressive five times on the night, notching three hits and two walks to go along with his two RBI and two runs scored. The guy had a hell of a series. According to Matt Gelb, Chooch raised his OPS by 258 points in just four days be finishing the LA series 7-14 with 5 walks, 5 runs scored and 6 RBI.
Marlon Byrd's big night must be mentioned: 3-5 with a couple of doubles and 4 big RBI.
Kyle Kendrick kept them in it and did what you hope for out of a fourth starer. He only went 5.2 but they were able to hold the 10 hits allowed to only 2 runs. The bullpen didn't completely blow it.
Pretty nice game all around except for the Mike Adams' bomb to Gonzalez which cost the Phils a late lead. Oh, and Freddy Galvis. Not sure what to do about him. He's 1-25 on the season.
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They're off to Arizona to take on one of the poorer teams in baseball. The Phils are back at .500 and I think that may be wildcard fever you're catching. Okay, okay, but they've been fun enough to watch and enjoy late night. That's something.