THE OTHER night, after Geoff Geary's two-strike pitch was ripped foul down the rightfield line, Carlos Ruiz asked the umpire for another ball, then fired it back hard at the Phillies reliever.
The message was clear: Just moments before, Ruiz had pounded his glove to the ground, emphasizing to the struggling Phillies righthander that he wanted the pitch down in the dirt, where it could not be hit.
