Major League Baseball

San Francisco Giants leave Philadelphia with splitting headache after losing Game 2

Published Oct. 18, 2010 10:11 a.m. ET

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PHILADELPHIA -- According to every baseball axiom, the Giants should feel very, very satisfied. As if they just devoured a cheesesteak grease bomb with the works.

They headed home with a two-game road split after the Philadelphia Phillies took a 6-1 victory in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series on Sunday night.

But there remains a gnawing hunger in their gut. The hitters went down too easily against Roy Oswalt, despite another glittering swing from Cody Ross. The Giants didn't play a crisp defensive game, either.

And despite a battle from left-hander Jonathan Sanchez, their pitchers worked off the mound with palpable fear of the Phillies' explosive offense, like they were throwing glasses of water at a raging brush fire.

Shane Victorino doubled and scored the tiebreaking run on Placido Polanco's sacrifice fly in the fifth, and the Phillies broke it open in a seventh inning that included two intentional walks. Jimmy Rollins, the former NL MVP from Alameda, hit a three-run double off the scoreboard in right-center field -- a bracing shot from a player whose legs aren't 100 percent and entered 1 for 17 in this postseason.

Do the Phillies have the momentum now? Maybe, maybe not. But behind a determined eight innings of three-hit ball from Oswalt, they certainly did what they needed to slow the Giants' train.

"It wasn't a pretty game for us, all around," said Ross, who hit a tying homer run, his fourth of the postseason, to break up Oswalt's no-hitter in the top of the fifth. "Defense, offense, everything. This is one when we come off the field in the ninth and walk up those stairs, we have to forget about it.

"All our spirits are fine in here. We're upbeat, and we're ready to go home again."

Manager Bruce Bochy has a DVD of "The Dirty Dozen," but he probably didn't enjoy a relaxing screening on the cross-country flight. He and his coaches had several decisions to chew over after leadoff man Andres Torres struck out four times, leaving him 3 for 25 with 12 strikeouts and one walk this postseason.

And third baseman Mike Fontenot had a rough game, committing a throwing error in Sanchez's 35-pitch first inning and also dropping Rollins' elevator-shaft pop-up in the fourth. Pablo Sandoval replaced Fontenot in a double-switch.

"You'll see a couple of changes," Bochy said.

Oswalt would've been tough on any combination that Bochy threw out there. He used pinpoint location and mixed in a few mesmerizing, 65-mph curveballs to strike out nine. Giants first baseman Aubrey Huff noted Oswalt threw more fastballs than in his four previous starts against the Giants, which included three losses while still with the Houston Astros.

"He had the good one today," Huff said. "It was getting on your hands. He's got that bowling ball fastball, and he went after guys."

Ross continued his amazing postseason run, hitting a solo shot to break up a no-hitter for the third consecutive playoff game. He also hit one in the sixth inning off Atlanta's Derek Lowe in Game 4 of the NL Division Series, and his homer in the third inning Saturday was the first hit off Roy Halladay -- who no-hit the Cincinnati Reds in his first postseason start -- since Sept. 27.

"Amazing," Huff said. "We're fouling 'em off. He's hitting 'em."

Ross became the fourth Giant to hit four homers in a single postseason, tying Jeffrey Leonard in 1987. Barry Bonds hit eight homers in 2002 and Rich Aurilia hit six.

"When I start seeing the ball real good, things happen," said Ross, who was booed in every at-bat. "I just tried to get something going for the team and "... tonight it wasn't enough."

Other than Ross' home run, Oswalt refused to allow a runner in scoring position until Sandoval walked and Freddy Sanchez singled in the eighth.

Sanchez nearly matched Oswalt, but that three-walk, 35-pitch first inning took something out of him, and his fastball was in the upper 80s for most of the remainder of the game.

He issued a bases-loaded walk to Rollins in the first but would have been out of the inning if not for Fontenot's bad throw on Polanco's ground ball.

There probably aren't many stop signs in Oswalt's hometown of Weir, Miss., population 553. He certainly didn't recognize one from third base coach Sam Perlozzo during the Phillies' four-run seventh inning.

Oswalt's leadoff single drove Jonathan Sanchez from the game, and after a sacrifice and an intentional walk to Chase Utley, Polanco stung a single to center field.

Oswalt ran through Perlozzo's protests and scored when Huff cut off an apparent on-target throw from Torres.

"Bad decision there," said Huff, who reacted after seeing Perlozzo holding out his hands. "The throw was on the money. It nails him. It's just a reaction play. What are you going to do?

"My play was big -- really huge. It changes the whole inning. The rest of the circumstances of the game probably change."

Jeremy Affeldt entered and did his job in striking out Ryan Howard. But the Phillies engineered a too-easy double steal during the at-bat, and Bochy had Affeldt intentionally walk Jayson Werth to load the bases.

Santiago Casilla entered, Rollins unloaded the bags and the Phillies made themselves heard in this series. Two-time NL pennant winners have a way of doing that.Series tied 1-1
(Best-of-7; x-if necessary)
TV: FOX Radio: 680-AM
GAME 1: Giants 4, Phillies 3
GAME 2: Phillies 6, Giants 1
TUESDAY: Philadelphia (Hamels 12-11) at Giants (Cain 13-11), 1:19 p.m.
WEDNESDAY: at Giants, 4:57 p.m.
THURSDAY: at Giants, 4:57 p.m.
x-SATURDAY: at Philadelphia, 12:57 p.m. or 4:57 p.m.
x-NEXT SUNDAY: at Philadelphia, 4:57 p.m.
Inside
Cody Ross acquisition is paying off. Page 4
Phillies bats are finally awakening. Page 5
Giants can't do little things to win. Page 5

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