Catching crisis

Or ... A funny thing happened on the way

to the All-Star Game

This week it seemed everybody caught Carlos Ruiz fever. He is off to a great start, and some think this might be a breakthrough year at the plate for Chooch:

"You develop through experience," Manuel said before the game. "You develop relaxation, concentration, confidence ... all that comes together."

With Charlie Manuel getting to select the All-Star team this year, Chooch's chances of making the team seemed pretty good.

But then, today, I got an e-mail from Christine with "Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo" as the subject. I knew it was going to be about a Phillies injury. I was kind of relieved when she said it was Ruiz, not Roy Halladay.

He has a capsular strain in his knee (whatever that means), and the Phillies expect him to avoid the DL, but it's not reassuring that the catching depth chart for the immediate future (starting with tonight's nightcap with the Rockies) is Paul Hoover, followed probably by Jayson Werth.

Although I love the resurging Jason Varitek and what he has meant to the team, and the fact that he is the best backup catcher in baseball, I have offered to trade him to the Phillies. I told Christine that I'd start the bidding with Halladay (she said he stunk after he couldn't hold a 3-1 lead in the 7th).

Today's games: After they lost Chooch and that 3-1 lead, the Phillies dropped the first game of their doubleheader with the Rockies 4-3 in the 10th. The Rockies catcher, Miguel Olivo, survived the game, going 5-5 with the game-winning home run off Chad Durbin.

Tim Wakefield pitched well for the Red Sox and notched his 2,000th career strikeout, but he did not get much support as the Red Sox lost to the Blue Jays 3-2. They nearly came back in the 9th, but wound up with just some gripes at the umpires:

"Thank God I wasn't hitting righthanded because that would have hit me in the ribs," (David Ortiz) said.

Suffice it to say, the strike zone was expanded all game. Replays and Pitchf/x showed the pitch to Ortiz was well was outside.

We'll leave the final word to Dustin Pedroia:

"[The umpires] must have had a flight. I'm actually going to check on that," he said. "If they had a flight, we're going to make sure it was delayed. Because I can do that. I have that kind of pull."

Tonight's game: Jamie Moyer takes on the Rockies. I hope he's over his preference for experienced catchers because he is kind of stuck with Hoover. If they even get the game in, because it's raining again in Denver and game 2 has been delayed.