And no, this wasn’t during warm-ups. After our eventual hero, Chris Coste, came into the game as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning for Greg Dobbs (and proceeded to go 4-for-4 including the GW single), the Phillies were temporarily left third baseman-less. So the genius baseball mind inside Charlie Manuel’s skull informed ex-infielder Carlos Ruiz to go out and play the position:

And just like everything Charlie does, it wound up being the correct move. No balls were hit to Ruiz that inning (Beltran grounded out to Rollins followed by Delgado & Tatis K’s) so Eric Bruntlett was available to pinch-hit for Brad Lidge in the bottom half and stay in the game at 3rd. Eric B. (for President) then thwacked a double to right-center, allowing Jayson Werth to score from first and tie the game up at 7.

Once again, Charlie Manuel > Jerry Manuel.

Phillies backstop Carlos Ruiz is having a hard time getting on base this year. Since he registered an uncharacteristic four hits in the 20-2 beatdown of the Cardinals on June 13th, Chooch is batting an abysmal .087 with two hits and exactly zero RBI’s. To put that in perspective, Adam “effing” Eaton has just as many hits as Carlos does during that span.

So what can he do to change this?

Tweak his batting stance? Spend a few more hours in the batting cages each week? Watch some extra game film? Seek the advice of hitting coach Milt Thompson?

Well, the answer to all those questions is a resounding “NO.” As it turns out, Carlos is better off if he just stands motionless at the plate with his bat on his shoulders.

After the jump, check out the irrefutable proof…

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Phillies backstop Carlos Ruiz isn’t exactly what you would call “popular” or “marketable,” but that didn’t stop the fine folks at Lincoln to seek him out for voice-over work on their local radio spots. Every couple innings during the Phils broadcast on 1210 WPHT am, a fluent, personable Ruiz pops in and tries to persuade you to drive the car he drives — the 2008 Lincoln MKS MKX . Listen to the embedded audio below the pic.

Carlos Ruiz Lincoln MKX radio spot

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