Oswalt primed to wrap up NLDS for Phillies

ST. LOUIS - Little Roy will be pitching a Big Game. And the scenario will be a familiar one for the Phillies righthander.

Roy Oswalt is often the Ringo Starr of the Phillies' rotation. Of the four star starters, he's generally fourth. Tonight, though, the spotlight is all his.

A victory puts the Phillies into the NLCS for the fourth consecutive year. Before this era, the Phils had played in the NLCS a total of six times.

"It's funny," he recalled before yesterday's game, "6 years later, I'm kind of in the same spot . . . back in St. Louis trying to move on to the next round."

It was 2005 when Oswalt led the Astros to the most significant victory in that franchise's history. Oswalt, then 28, held the Cardinals to one run in seven innings as Houston clinched a berth in its only World Series.

If Oswalt can't get it done today, Roy Halladay is lurking for Friday's series-deciding Game 5.

"We have two Roys going for us, if we even need to get to that second one," said reliever Brad Lidge, a teammate of Oswalt's in Houston. "You gotta feel pretty good about your chances when that's the case."

Oswalt, who missed a good chunk of the season with a back injury, has resumed the unusual practice of throwing lightly the day before his start.

"I've actually started doing that five or six starts ago," he explained, "and it seems like I have a better feel when I get out there the next day. Didn't really throw a whole lot of pitches, just kind of more maintenance than anything."

Oswalt said he used to do this earlier in his career. Also in practice, Oswalt has the catcher set up in front of the plate to try to "get muscle memory to keep the ball down" for when Carlos Ruiz is behind the plate during the game.

Some of the splits against the Cardinals aren't friendly for Oswalt. Albert Pujols is a career .316 hitter off him (and everybody else, for that matter); Ryan Theriot bats .313; Rafael Furcal is at .333; and Yadier Molina is a healthy .364.

His last start in St. Louis was in June, and it was forgettable. Oswalt lasted only two innings and almost immediately went on the disabled list with a bad back. At the time, Oswalt was making noises that the injury could threaten his career. He was pitching in pain, and the concern was palpable.

"When you get to the point that you can't compete, that's when you start doubting yourself. But I feel like my stuff is good enough to compete. When I'm healthy, I feel like I can do anything I did when I was 21 . . . I feel like I can do this another 3 or 4 or 5 years."

Phillies Nation hopes he can just do it for another 3 weeks or so.

Oswalt's mound opponent is Edwin Jackson, whose 2008 team, the Tampa Bay Rays, lost the World Series to the Phillies.

He holds no grudge about that disappointment.

"This is not anything personal," said Jackson, who made one relief appearance against the Phillies that year. "Our objective is to go out and win ballgames. This is strictly for the Cardinals. Anything that happened back with Tampa, that was the past. I just took all the experience from it, and come out [today] and have fun."