Oswalt hurts back; Phillies fall to Marlins

THERE WAS NO warning, but, then again, bad news almost never knocks in these situations.

One moment, Roy Oswalt, the Phillies' third ace, was trotting to the mound to begin the seventh inning, trying to protect a one-run lead against the Marlins. Next thing you know, he was joined by Charlie Manuel, home-plate umpire Rob Drake and assistant athletic trainer Mark Andersen. Which was followed immediately by J.C. Romero being waved in from the bullpen and the disembodied words of public address announcer Dan Baker floating into the frosty night air.

The new pitcher will get all the time he needs to warm up . . .

That's a message nobody wants to hear. Pitching injuries happen, but Phillies fans came into this season with visions of sugar plums - and another world championship banner - dancing in their heads. Oswalt, who hasn't lost a regular-season game since his first start with the Phillies last July, plays a prominent role in those hopes and dreams. Last night, he retired the first 11 batters he faced and didn't allow a hit until Logan Morrison led off the fifth with a home run.

It didn't help that, after Oswalt left, the bullpen promptly gave up the lead and the Phillies lost, 4-3, in front of an announced sellout of 45,667 at Citizens Bank Park.

Officially, Oswalt left the game with a lower back strain, although he later said the tightness was more in the middle. The 33-year-old spent time on the disabled list with hip and related back problems in 2006, 2008 and 2009, and pitched through some back discomfort last season with the Astros, but insisted this was different from what he's experienced in the past.

Time will tell, but he said there's a chance he'll be ready to make his next scheduled start Wednesday against the Brewers.

"I should be. I hope," he said. "I'll just take 2 days off and then throw a bullpen and see where I'm at. The good thing about a back spasm is it's not anything as far as a disk or anything like that. It's just a muscle that tightened up for some reason. The doctor said I might just have tweaked it a little bit. It's not to the point where it's unbearable, but it's to the point where I didn't want to keep pushing it and then maybe miss my next start."

Oswalt said he first felt something in the fifth. The Phillies considered hitting for him in the sixth. He ended up bunting into a force play, and the back tightened up even more. He mentioned to pitching coach Rich Dubee before leaving the dugout that he was experiencing some discomfort, which is when the warning lights began flashing.

"When he got out there, you could tell," Manuel said. "There was no sense in leaving him out there."

Instead of having Oswalt, the manager had to use three relievers in the seventh. They loaded the bases with nobody out, and Florida scored twice to take the lead.

Romero gave up an infield hit to Morrison, then gave up the ball to Danys Baez. Baez walked Gaby Sanchez, and John Buck singled to center, with Morrison stopping at third.

After Donnie Murphy popped up, Marlins manager Edwin Rodriguez sent lefthanded-swinging pinch-hitter Greg Dobbs to the plate. With lefthanded Antonio Bastardo ready in the bullpen, Manuel chose to leave Baez in the game, knowing Rodriguez would have countered with Wes Helms if he made the pitching change.

Dobbs, cut loose by the Phillies at the end of last season, ripped a single to left to drive in the tying and go-ahead runs. The Phillies got one hit in the last four innings against five different Marlins relievers, never even getting a runner into scoring position after the fifth.

Oswalt was not the only injury in the game, either. Ross Gload, who started in right for the Phillies, wrenched his right knee making a sliding catch in the third and was replaced by Ben Francisco in the seventh. Murphy, the Marlins' third baseman, left the game for a pinch-hitter in the ninth after suffering a bruised left knee and is listed as day-to-day.

All baseball teams talk about winning each series. It helps break down the impossibly long season into small, manageable pieces. So far this season, the Phillies have been able to do that. They've won each of the series they've played so far this year and, going back to last season, six straight and 15 out of 16.

In each of their previous three series - against the Mets, at Atlanta, at Washington - they dropped the opener, then had to come back to win the last two games, though.

If they're going to win this series, they're going to have to do it the hard way again.

In accordance with Major League Baseball tradition, Jackie Robinson was honored before last night's game. It was April 15, 1947, when the Brooklyn Dodgers second baseman broke baseball's color line. All players on both teams wore Robinson's No. 42. In addition, the Phillies played a video tribute, honored surviving members of the Philadelphia Stars, of the Negro Leagues, and displayed a hand-carved wooden statue of Robinson in Ashburn Alley. *