Phils Tie NLCS At 1-1
PHILADELPHIA (CBS)—Roy Oswalt needed a game to arrive. Jimmy Rollins needed five games to get there. Until Game 2 of the National League Championship Series, they were no-shows this postseason. Game 2 of the NLCS provided an opportunity to redeem themselves. They did. Oswalt and Rollins couldn't have arrived at a more critical time, helping the Phillies even the NLCS at 1-1, after they pounded San Francisco 6-1, on Sunday night at Citizens Bank Park.
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Oswalt had a sub par outing in his first postseason start, against the Cincinnati Reds in the division series, but collected himself to mow down the Giants in Game 2. Oswalt gave up a mere two hits through seven innings, striking out eight and the one run he surrendered came on a fifth-inning, solo homer from Cody Ross, who's become San Francisco's power source in the first two games of this series.
It looked as if Phils' manager Charlie Manuel was going to pull Oswalt with two out and two on in the eighth, but Manuel opted to leave Oswalt in. The pitcher rewarded his manager's faith by getting Aubrey Huff to line out to center to end the inning.
Huff was the last batter Oswalt faced. Over eight innings, he was sharp, giving up just three hits, Ross's fifth-inning homer, and two singles to Freddy Sanchez (in the sixth and eighth innings). Otherwise, Oswalt was masterful, throwing clean innings in the first, third, fourth and seventh. During one span, Oswalt retired 11 straight, before Ross's homer spoiled that run.
Oswalt handcuffed Huff, Buster Posey and Pat Burrell, the meat of the Giants' order, into going a combined 0-for-11.
"I had a real good run on the ball tonight, and I tried to stay mainly fastball, and toward the end of the game started getting my curveball over," Oswalt said.
As for Rollins, he too had been struggling through this postseason. He lugged a horrid 1-for-15 postseason slump into Game 2, hitting a paltry .067. He struck out three-straight times in the NLCS opener Saturday night. It's fair to say Rollins more than compensated by going 2-for-3 in Game 2, with a walk that sent home the Phils' first run in the first, and a bases-clearing, three-run double in the seventh that blew up what had been a close game.
"This was a game you have to grind to get yourself out of [batting slumps]," Manuel said. "I know how good Jimmy Rollins can be. I have a lot of faith in Jimmy, and I'll stay right with him. He's trying to find his swing, and I like him hitting sixth, because he's a switch-hitter."
After banging out a few hits, Rollins raised his postseason average by 100 points. It was Rollins' first two-hit game since September 8.
"I knew it was just a matter of time," said Rollins, who's been battling strained calf and hamstring injuries this season. "I got a pitch to hit in the eighth and I tried not to do too much with it. This puts us back at 1-1, and if we don't put anything across the board, we won't do it. Tonight I felt pretty good. You figure out things and solve problems. You lose confidence in this game, you're going home."
Until the seventh, the Phils' offense had been dormant when it came to driving home runners in scoring position. The Phils were 0-for-11, which Placido Polanco broke with his single to center in the seventh that drove home Oswalt, who led off the seventh with a single and ran through a stop sign to slide home safe. "What was I going to do, rope him?" Manuel said, in reaction to Oswalt blowing through the stop sign. "I might look like a cowboy, and talk like a cowboy, but I ain't one."
The game proved to be a little redemptive for Phils' left fielder Raul Ibanez, who made a diving catch in the ninth inning to rob Burrell. In the sixth inning of Game 1, Ibanez botched a Burrell fly ball off the wall that resulted in a double and a run scored.
The series will resume on Tuesday in San Francisco for Game 3.
"San Francisco is a tough place to play, especially if we were down 0-2, so we needed this," Rollins said. "We never lost our confidence. It's nice to go there 1-1."
Reported by: Joseph Santoliquito
