At this point, Carlos Ruiz might be the Philies' MVP.


Everything is starting to click for the Phillies right now as they continue fighting with the Atlanta Braves for ownership of the NL East.

The offense went off Monday night against the Florida Marlins, Joe Blanton looked very good, and that all comes after a great outing by Roy Oswalt yesterday. We all knew the top of the pitching rotation would give teams fits, but now Blanton is on his game as well and lineup is finally awake.

Jayson Werth, Chase Utley, Carlos Ruiz, and even Greg Dobbs hit a home run, Wilson Valdez hit a double, and before it was all said and done the Phils had put up 11 on the Marlins.

Ruiz, as he's been all season, was especially impressive. Already near the top of every major offensive statistical category for catchers, Ruiz improved his numbers by going 3-4 with a home run, four RBIs, a run scored, and even drew a walk.

The performance bumped Ruiz's season batting average to .300.

And if 11 runs -- four of them home runs -- wasn't good enough, Werth was actually able to come through with a runner in scoring position when he hit a single that scored Utley from second.

If that doesn't signal that the Phillies are a team of destiny on a mission, I'm not sure what does.

The Braves are going to continue to fight hard, but they've got to be feeling a bit helpless at this point as they fight just to stay neck-and-neck with the Phils. If they drop even just a couple games here and there they're going to start falling behind fast and they know it.