Inside the Phillies: Carlos Ruiz the muse for the Phillies' pitching staff

CLEARWATER, Fla. - If all goes according to plan, this will be a Phillies season filled with Rembrandts, Picassos, van Goghs, and da Vincis, and almost all these masterpieces will be produced on the same sturdy canvas that is Carlos Ruiz's catcher's mitt.

Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt, and Cole Hamels are the artists who make up the first four spots in the Phillies' celebrated starting rotation, but Ruiz is their muse.

Ruiz said people tell him all the time that he is the luckiest catcher in the world, and he doesn't argue the point.

"A lot of people say that you have to feel good because you've been to two World Series, you've caught a perfect game and a [postseason] no-hitter, and now you have this rotation," Ruiz said. "I feel special because it's not that easy to have things like that happen. This is going to be fun. This year is going to be something special to be behind home plate."

Even though this is the first time these four pitchers have been together on the same staff, Ruiz has caught each of them because of Lee's previous stint in Philadelphia in 2009. After a recent workout at Bright House Field, the 32-year-old catcher talked about each of the Phillies' aces and the pitchers all explained why they like throwing to Ruiz.

Ruiz and Halladay developed an extraordinary rapport in their first season together last year, as evidenced by the perfect game in Florida, the postseason no-hitter against Cincinnati, and the National League Cy Young Award that now sits on Halladay's mantel.

In those signature games against Florida and Cincinnati, Halladay threw a combined 219 pitches. Only once, in the final at-bat of the no-hitter against the Reds, did Halladay shake off a pitch called by Ruiz.

"The first couple times I caught Roy I was like, 'Oh my God, this guy is unbelievable,' " Ruiz said. "The thing that I like about him is that he is so focused on playing the game, and he's always ready to fight. That's the kind of guy I like to catch. He doesn't care who's hitting because he's going right after you."

Ruiz also enjoyed the hitters' reactions to Halladay's often unhittable arsenal of pitches.

"It's not so much what they say, it's how they smile," Ruiz said. "When they smile, you can tell they know they're facing an elite guy, and there is nothing they can do. The only chance they have is when he makes a mistake, and that leaves them with very little chance because he is so consistent."