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Giants' walkoff win pushes Phillies to brink of elimination

SAN FRANCISCO - It is hat-hanging time, and here is the peg on which the Phillies now depend: In the 1996 National League Championship Series, the Braves lost a tight Game 4 behind No. 4 starter Denny Neagle to fall into a three-games-to-one hole against

Carlos Ruiz walks off the field as the Giants celebrate their victory in Game 4 of the NLCS. (Ron Cortes / Staff Photographer)
Carlos Ruiz walks off the field as the Giants celebrate their victory in Game 4 of the NLCS. (Ron Cortes / Staff Photographer)Read more

SAN FRANCISCO - It is hat-hanging time, and here is the peg on which the Phillies now depend: In the 1996 National League Championship Series, the Braves lost a tight Game 4 behind No. 4 starter Denny Neagle to fall into a three-games-to-one hole against the St. Louis Cardinals. Despite possessing the best rotation in baseball, Atlanta found itself hamstrung by a lackluster offense that had mustered only 12 runs. To advance to their second straight World Series, they needed three consecutive victories by their top three starters.

And, lo and behold, that is exactly what they got: first John Smoltz, then Greg Maddux, then, in Game 7, lefty Tom Glavine.

Fourteen years later, the Phillies only hope is to repeat history.

A wild night of close calls and missed opportunities ended in the bottom of the ninth with Juan Uribe watching his walkoff sacrifice fly and the Phillies looking at a 6-5 loss that pushed them one game away from elimination.

"I'd say if we like to play with our backs against the wall, it's there now," manager Charlie Manuel said. "I think we're standing there right now."

The odds are as long as the fly ball that pushed home the winning run last night. Of the 30 teams who have trailed a best-of-seven LCS, 3-1, only six have recovered to advance to the World Series. The good news is that half of the occurrences have come in the last decade: first the Marlins over the Cubs in 2004, then the Red Sox over the Yankees in 2004 and Indians in 2007. All three teams went on to win the World Series; the Phillies were the undisputed favorites at the start of this series.

They must overcome several hurdles to fulfill the lofty expectations they set for themselves with their big-money lineup and blockbuster trades for starting pitching. First, veteran righthander Roy Halladay must outduel Tim Lincecum tonight, something he did not do last Saturday in Game 1. Next, Roy Oswalt must rebound from his ill-fated relief appearance - the veteran righthander talked himself into the game in the ninth inning, then allowed one-out singles to Aubrey Huff and Buster Posey and the decisive fly ball to Uribe - and beat Jonathan Sanchez in Game 6 (something he accomplished in Game 2). Then, the Phillies must win the first decisive Game 7 in franchise history.

If they hope to accomplish any of it, they will have to figure out a way to slow down Cody Ross, who continued his torrid series with a key sixth-inning double, and the rookie Posey, who went 4-for-5 with two doubles and two RBI.

They also will have to capitalize on the types of opportunities they missed last night. In the first inning, starter Joe Blanton threw two wild pitches in an at-bat against Posey, moving Freddy Sanchez from first to second and second to third to put him in position to score on a single by the Giants catcher.

In the fourth, the Phils scored four runs to take a 4-2 lead and knock rookie lefty Madison Bumgarner out of the game, but they left a crucial fifth run on the basepaths early in the frame when Aaron Rowand threw out Carlos Ruiz after third-base coach Sam Perlozzo waved him around on a single by Shane Victorino.

In the fifth, Blanton issued a leadoff walk that set up a two-out RBI single by Huff, prompting Manuel to remove him after 63 pitches and turn things over to a bullpen that hasn't had much opportunity to pitch with a lead this postseason. Phillies relievers entered the night having logged nine scoreless innings this postseason, but only two of those came in a save situation.

In the sixth, Pablo Sandoval connected on a two-run double off of Chad Durbin that gave the Giants a 5-4 lead.

The Phillies tied the game in the eighth, when Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth led off with back-to-back doubles, but failed on three straight attempts to drive in the go-ahead run home. Manuel chose to let Jimmy Rollins swing against Sergio Romo instead of bunting Werth to third with the first out of the inning (he popped out), and Romo struck out Ben Francisco and Ruiz to eliminate the threat.

"Rollins usually pulls the ball," Manuel said. "If he hits the ball to the right side of the diamond, that's one of his strong points. He's got a short quick swing to the left side that he usually pulls the ball . . . Not only that, if he pulls the ball, he also has a chance to get a hit or drive the run in. And that's how you play the game."

Oswalt volunteered to pitch the ninth, but allowed back-to-back singles to Huff and Posey before giving up Uribe's one-out, walkoff fly ball. He said the relief appearance will not affect his ability to pitch Game 6.

The Phillies just hope they get the chance to find out.

"We have to come out with the attitude that we're going to win and send this back to Philly," Victorino said. "But we know what we're up against. Our backs are against the wall."

For more Phillies coverage and opinion, read David Murphy's blog, High Cheese, at http://go.philly.com/highcheese. Follow him on Twitter at

http://twitter.com/HighCheese.