Lieberthal on 15-Day DL

On Friday, it appears many people had a wish granted – Carlos Ruiz was called up from Scranton/WilkesBarre.  Unfortunately, it came at the expense of Mike Lieberthal’s left knee which has a bone contusion (deep bruise) after being plunked Thursday by Braves starter John Thomson.  Phillies team doctor Michael Ciccotti said the injury could take a week to seven days to heal – though last time I checked, a week is exactly seven days.  Nonetheless, this comes at a bad time as Lieberthal is batting .297 and staving off the criticism of past years.

Sal Fasano started last night and will likely get the majority of starts in Lieberthal’s absence, but if we have any more repeat performances of Tuesday night, Carlos Ruiz will likely get the nod.  In the words of Charlie Manuel

, "I’ll catch him some; he could even catch [tonight]."  Ruiz, who bats right-handed like Fasano, has been tearing it up at Scranton with a .385/.448/.637 line, 6 homers, 18 RBIs, and just 12 strikeouts in 25 games.  Although Ruiz will probably be sent back down when Lieberthal returns this chance could go a long way in determining when he gets called up for good.  It may even force Pat Gillick and Charlie Manuel to make some personnel decisions before the end of the year.