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MAN OF STEAL

Ruiz pilfers home in rout as rookie Kendrick wins second

A ROOKIE starter won again.

A guy named Ruiz stole home in a game between the Phillies and the Reds.

Somehow, for now, the Phillies keep winning.

They won for the third time in as many starts from rookie Kyle Kendrick and again provided him enough cushion to cruise. The 11-4 win was a 10-2 laugher after four innings.

Kendrick, a 22-year-old who has replaced worn-out veteran Freddy Garcia, lasted six innings, as he had twice before; he gave up four runs, one more than each of his two previous starts; and he moved to 2-0.

Kendrick won in part because he allowed just one run in the first inning after loading the bases with no outs.

"I had to clutch up there," Kendrick said. "Only giving up one run was huge."

Ryan Howard erased that deficit when 21-year-old Reds phenom Homer Bailey (2-1) pitched to him with two out and a runner on third in the bottom of the first. Howard ripped his 17th homer of the season to rightfield to make it 2-1.

Howard said he was "sort of" surprised he wasn't issued his 21st intentional walk of the season. He was even more pleasantly surprised when Bailey shook off his catcher and threw a fastball that he drove just over the rightfield fence.

"I challenged him and it didn't work," said Bailey.

Carlos Ruiz did some challenging of his own.

If only because of the shared name and service time, the play recalled the steal of home by Reds rookie Chico Ruiz on Sept. 21, 1964. Chico Ruiz' steal, with Frank Robinson batting, was an ill-advised play that won that game, 1-0, and started a 10-game slide that saw the Phillies squander a 6 1/2-game lead and lose the National League pennant.

Nobody in a Phillies uniform last night knew the Legend of Chico Ruiz. Instead, they relished the boldness of Carlos Ruiz, whose steal of home was an unplanned exercise in imprudence.

The Phillies led, 4-1, with two out in second inning. The team's fastest runner, Michael Bourn, was on first. Ruiz was on third. RBI machine Chase Utley held a 2-0 advantage in the count.

Third-base coach Steve Smith expected Bourn to steal - he was 10-for-10 this season - and he told Ruiz to make sure the throw went past the mound if Ruiz had any intention of stealing home.

As Bourn stole second, Ruiz waited for the ball to pass the mound, and then he broke.

"No! No! No!" Smith hollered.

"Ah, I was ready to go. One hundred percent, I thought I would make it," Ruiz said. "I heard him saying 'No,' but in my mind I was ready to go."

Bourn easily beat catcher David Ross' throw. Strong-armed shortstop Alex Gonzalez swiped a late tag on Bourn, whirled and fired home, high and up the third-base line. Ruiz cleverly slid inside the baseline.

It was the first steal of home by a Phillie since Scott Rolen did it June 5, 1997, against the visiting Cubs. It was the first steal of home by a Phillies catcher since Bo Diaz did it in 1982 in Pittsburgh.

"Twenty-five years?" said Ruiz, who has fine speed for a catcher. "Man."

Utley then singled in Bourn, and the rout was on.

Bailey not only lost for the first time in the majors but for only the second time all year; he was 6-1 in Triple A and had won five straight since April 25.

He was a footnote after Victorino's homer in the third and Ruiz' three-run double off Mike Gosling in the fourth cemented the win, which put them at a season-high four games over .500 for the second time.

Utley added his 13th homer of the year, off Victor Santos, in the seventh. With that, the Phillies have scored eight, nine, and now 11 runs in Kendrick's starts.

"I guess I'm pretty lucky," he said.

And pretty good.

He hasn't been overpowering, and he's had to fight through trouble, and he has allowed 10 runs in his 18 innings, but he's managed the game.

"I'll be happy with that every time," Kendrick said.

It's hard to believe he wasn't even invited to big-league camp this spring; that he has just 12 Double A starts, all this season. That's right: He hasn't yet pitched at Triple A.

With this sort of run support and with this kind of poise, he might never pitch there. *