The injury bug continues to bite at the Phillies as another starter is down and could miss a few days after Carlos Ruiz sprained his right knee Wednesday against the Rockies.
Ruiz initially injured the knee making a tag at the plate, then aggravated it trying to run from first to third on a base hit by Wilson Valdez in the fourth inning. He made it to third safely, but immediately began grasping at his knee and had to be replaced by Paul Hoover.
Hoover then caught the rest of the game because Brian Schneider, originally the backup catcher, is on the 15-day DL with a strained left achilles.
Ruiz, however, doesn’t seem worried about it, saying, “It is not serious, it’s sore.” The slight sprain isn’t expected to land Ruiz on the DL and it’s possible he won’t even miss a start.
“We have an off-day tomorrow, so this is good news,” Phillies assistant GM Scott Proefrock told MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki. “We’ll just have to play it by ear, but it’s not a DL situation.”
The Phillies also said there are no plans to bring in another catcher if Ruiz is unable to go. Were they to be faced with the worst-case scenario of Hoover also going down, Jayson Werth would step in as the emergency catcher.
Ben Francisco would likely take over at right field.
Ruiz joins Ryan Madson, Brad Lidge, J.A. Happ, Jimmy Rollins, Juan Castro, and Schneider as the guys bit by the injury bug. If it gets loose on anyone else in the Phillies’ locker-room, it could mean trouble—especially with the Nats and Mets playing well so far.
But, if it was going to bite at any time, May is certainly the time to do it rather than August or September.
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