Finally, some good injury news for Philadelphia Phillies fans. Starting catcher Carlos Ruiz was pulled from Wednesday's game with back tightness, and there was some worry that the injury might send him to the disabled list. As David Murphy writes:
Ruiz felt a sharp pain shoot from his lower back down through his right leg after flying out to leftfield in the top of the first inning.
Ruiz went and saw a doctor on Thursday, and came away with a happy report - an MRI revealed no damage. Now, Ruiz is still sore, and he is expected to sit out the next few games, but that's an awful lot better than having to sit out the next few weeks. This is just a day-to-day matter, and no more.
With Ruiz taking a little time, the Phillies are expected to call up catcher Dane Sardinha from AAA to provide some emergency insurance.
On Wednesday, the Philadelphia Phillies bounced back from consecutive losses to double up the Arizona Diamondbacks, 8-4. That's the good news. The bad news? Catcher Carlos Ruiz had to be pulled in the first inning with a back injury.
The injury was initially called "lower back tightness", which doesn't sound like a big deal, but Ruiz is set to visit a doctor on Thursday, and when asked if he was concerned about the injury, Ruiz replied, yeah, he was. So there might be a little more than a day-to-day bother.
The last thing the Phillies need is another regular player dealing with a significant injury, so they'll cross their fingers and hope that Ruiz doesn't have to miss much time. For however long he's out - if he's out at all - one can expect Brian Schneider to handle the bulk of the workload. The veteran came on in relief of Ruiz on Wednesday and went hitless in three at-bats.
