Oswalt hurt, Phillies routed by Cardinals

ST. LOUIS - An opportunity to pull off a three-game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals dissolved into a disastrous evening Thursday for Roy Oswalt and the Phillies.

And the Phillies' 12-2 loss at Busch Stadium was not nearly as debilitating as Oswalt's prognosis of the lower-back injury that painfully chased him from the game after just two innings.

In the visitors clubhouse afterward, Oswalt gave an ominous analysis of what could lie ahead for the 33-year-old righthander, who has 154 career victories. He said the team has scheduled an MRI examination for Monday, but he did not expect to make his next start. In fact, he did not know when he would pitch again.

"It has been bothering me for a little while," Oswalt said. "I feel it when I sit down, when I stand up, when I walk, pitch, sleep."

It has showed on the mound. He has won just once in his last nine starts, and his ERA in five June starts is 5.81. He downplayed the problem for as long as he could bear it, but he realized he wasn't doing the Phillies any favors by taking the mound every fifth day.

"I really wasn't productive," he said. "I was more heaving the ball than throwing the ball."

Oswalt, after slipping to 4-6, said he had an MRI about a year ago with Houston that revealed two degenerative disks. The MRI Monday will be compared to that one.

"It hasn't got to the point where it has bulged yet," he said. "Hopefully not. That's the doctor's stuff. Just see where I'm at."

Oswalt did not dismiss the possibility that his career could be over if the disks are bulging.

"You throw as long as you can throw, and when you can't throw no more, you can't throw no more," he said.

"I want to keep going as long as I can. Hopefully, it hasn't got to the point where I can't throw no more, but if it has gotten to that point, you just have to accept it."

Oswalt indicated he has taken quite a few cortisone injections to alleviate the pain, but he may be past the point where that is an option.

"You only get so many shots, and then it starts breaking down," he said.

Asked why he continued to pitch through pain, he said he did not want to be labeled a quitter.

The lopsided loss and the pitcher's condition left manager Charlie Manuel in an understandably foul mood.

"I'm concerned about it because it has been quite a while," Manuel said. "It bothers him sometimes more than others and, yeah, I'm definitely concerned."

By the time Oswalt departed, he had dug the Phillies a 4-0 hole from which they would not recover as the Cardinals salvaged the final game of the series, thanks to an impressive performance by the previously struggling Chris Carpenter.

It was the Phillies' most lopsided loss of the season, and it left them four games ahead of the idle Atlanta Braves in the National League East.

Oswalt, now considered the sore ace rather than one of the Four Aces, started the season with a 3-0 record and 1.88 ERA, but he has won just once in nine starts since April 21.

The velocity on Oswalt's fastball was consistently clocked at 93 m.p.h. in his first two starts of the season, but it has hovered at 89 to 90 m.p.h. since the back issues surfaced.

When pitching coach Rich Dubee was asked to address Oswalt's lack of velocity before the game, he became defensive.

"It doesn't mean anything if he commands it," Dubee said. "He's not getting to certain spots, and that makes it tough. But he hasn't pitched all that badly."

Pain, combined with a lack of velocity and location, makes it even tougher to pitch, and that was obvious for Oswalt, who grimaced through his laborious two innings.

With one out in the bottom of the first, Oswalt left a 2-2 changeup up in the zone, and Jon Jay sent it over the right-field wall for the game's first run.

Oswalt surrendered three consecutive singles and allowed a second run to start the second inning, but he had a chance to escape without further damage when he struck out Daniel Descalso for the second out of the inning.

Instead, Cardinals leadoff man Ryan Theriot ripped a two-out, two-run single to give St. Louis a 4-0 lead. At that point, Kyle Kendrick was warming up in the Phillies bullpen. Oswalt retired Jay for the final out of the inning, but then retreated to the clubhouse, his evening over and his immediate future in serious doubt.