Paul Hagen: This time Phillies will let Oswalt's decision slide

GIANTS MANAGER Bruce Bochy didn't think there was a chance that Phillies pitcher Roy Oswalt was going to be able to score from second. Then again, he didn't think Oswalt was even going to try after Placido Polanco singled to center in the bottom of the seventh.

With just one out and a potential to have runners on first and third, leading by a single run, third-base coach Sam Perlozzo put up the stop sign.

Except that Oswalt ran through it. And Giants first baseman Aubrey Huff, who had seen Perlozzo throw his hands up, cut off the throw from center.

"No question we had him dead. He was out by 10, 15 feet," Bochy observed.

Instead Oswalt scored easily, triggering what turned into a four-run outburst as the Phillies evened their best-of-seven NLCS against San Francisco at a game apiece with a 6-1 win last night at The Bank.

"I probably can't say exactly what the [dugout] reaction was," said rightfielder Jayson Werth with a grin. "Something like, 'Oh, no. Oh, yes,' with some other adjectives and verbs thrown in there."

Oswalt said he was thinking about coming home immediately.

"I read it pretty well coming off the bat," he said. "I didn't look at the centerfielder to see how close he was. But as soon as [Polanco] hit it, I knew it was over the infield. When I got halfway, I saw the stop sign. I said, 'It's too late now, no turning back.' "

Perlozzo spoke in measured tones about the play. "I was really happy he was safe," he said. "It was a situation where, if he had been out, that could have been it [for the inning]. I certainly thought the ball was going through."

Manager Charlie Manuel could only laugh. "What the hell are we going to do, rope him?" he joked. "I ain't that good. I'm not a cowboy. I might look like one, talk like one, but I'm not one."

Said Werth: "That was a game-changer, it really was. It was probably the defining point of the game."

Oswalt, using a bat he borrowed from Jimmy Rollins, had singled to lead off the inning. The Phillies had the third fewest sacrifice bunts (44) in the National League this season. But Manuel had Shane Victorino bunt him over. Chase Utley was walked intentionally, setting the stage for the turning point.

Some Phillies fans probably weren't too happy to see Ryan Howard on the sideline of the Eagles' win over the Falcons at Lincoln Financial Field yesterday afternoon, especially after he struck out three times in the NLCS Game 1 loss to San Francisco on Saturday night.

Seriously, though, staring at video of Giants' Game 2 starter Jonathan Sanchez all afternoon probably would have done more harm than good. Baseball is a game of relaxation and reaction.

At the same time, he put himself out there. Silly as it might have been, if he had had a bad game, that decision surely could have become a flashpoint for an artificial controversy.

Instead, he worked a crucial walk off Sanchez in the first inning last night, helping to lead to an unearned run. Then he doubled his next time up. Then he singled in the fifth.

And the Phillies won, 6-1, so the whole thing became a non-issue.

Jayson Werth on tying the NLCS at a game apiece going into Game 3 at San Francisco tomorrow: "Whatever it takes. We want to get it done. This is definitely a war and we're in it to win it."

Baseball is a small world. Well-intentioned advice can echo in unexpected ways. Just ask Charlie Manuel and Roy Oswalt.

When the Giants visited Citizens Bank Park in August, he was asked by the San Francisco Chronicle about Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum's disappointing season. After all, both are smallish righthanders.

Oswalt said conditioning was the key. "If you're not in the top shape you can be, your body's going to break down, especially if you're smaller in size," he noted. "You have to do twice the work a bigger guy's going to do."

To be fair, Lincecum had been getting the same advice from a variety of sources, including his father and Giants manager Bruce Bochy. But it was also right about then that he turned his season around. If he hadn't, it's doubtful San Francisco would have even made the postseason. And The Freak wouldn't have had the chance to outduel Roy Halladay in Game 1 on Saturday.

Manuel, meanwhile, worked tirelessly with Pat Burrell before the leftfielder left as a free agent. So the Phillies manager had to have mixed emotions at best about watching him get a single, a double and an RBI in the Giants' 4-3 win in the opener.

There has been quite a bit of discussion recently about how long the Phillies' window of opportunity will remain open. For what it's worth, according to baseball-reference.com, the average age of Phillies hitters is 31.8 years, the average for the pitchers 31.1. Both figures are the oldest in the league.

The Phillies have lost the first game of a postseason series six times before this NLCS (1950 World Series, 1976 NLCS, 1978 NLCS, 1981 NLDS, 1993 World Series, 2007 NLDS) and have never come back to win that series. In fact, before last night's win, they have come back to win Game 2 and tie the series just once, against Toronto in 1993 . . . Game 3 at AT&T Park tomorrow is an afternoon game. Cole Hamels had a 3.34 ERA in the daytime this season (2.97 at night) and 4.27 career (3.20 under the lights).

Send e-mail to hagenp@phillynews.com