Just when it looked like the Phillies had the proverbial band back together - Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Roy Halladay returned from the DL in the last month - their team MVP is battling a nagging injury.

Carlos Ruiz was out of Saturday's lineup with left plantar fasciitis. Ruiz said he was healthy enough to play through it; he'll start Sunday, a day game after a night game, and catch Roy Halladay.

Ruiz, who played in his first All-Star Game earlier this month, said the pain in his left foot varies from day to day.

"Sometimes when I wake up, it's tough to walk," Ruiz said.

Saturday was the second game in the last three that Ruiz has been out of the starting lineup. On Wednesday, in the last game of the Phillies recently-completed homestand, Ruiz said it was particularly painful, so much so that he bagged his regular game spikes and wore his turf shoes to hit with.

With sneakers and no spikes, Ruiz luckily didn't have to run the bases: he hit a pinch-hit sacrifice fly in the 10th inning of that game.

When explaining the severity of the injury, Ruiz said that at times "it's felt like a knife" in the back of his ankle.

Among major league catchers Ruiz is tied with St. Louis's Yadier Molina in games played (87) and fourth in innings caught (696). Only Molina (730 innings), Baltimore's Matt Wieters (721 2/3) and Arizona's Miguel Montero (716 1/3) have caught more.

Ruiz said the foot first began bothering him two weeks ago in Los Angeles.