San Francisco @ Philadelphia preview
Citizens Bank Park
Last Meeting ( Oct 21, 2010 ) Philadelphia 4, San Francisco 2
Roy Oswalt has never lost at Citizens Bank Park.
The Philadelphia Phillies need that streak to stay intact if they want to preserve their hopes of a third consecutive National League pennant.
Three nights after suffering a loss in relief to put the Phillies in a 3-1 hole, Oswalt goes to the mound for Game 6 on Saturday night against the San Francisco Giants, who are one win away from heading back to the World Series for the first time since 2002.
Oswalt is 1-1 with a 3.29 ERA this postseason, which includes two starts and Wednesday's relief stint. The loss in Game 4 was his first in 11 postseason appearances, but Philadelphia's win in Game 5 on Thursday gave him a shot at redemption.
The Giants managed a pair of singles and Juan Uribe's sacrifice fly against Oswalt in the ninth inning of Game 4, which nearly matched the total damage they did against him in eight innings in Game 2. In that one, Oswalt allowed only one run on three hits and struck out nine.
The only mistake Oswalt made in his first start of the series was on a home run by Cody Ross, who has been San Francisco's hottest hitter in the series, going 6-for-16 with three homers and five RBIs.
The Giants turn to left-hander Jonathan Sanchez to try to clinch it - and not for the first time. Sanchez beat San Diego in the regular-season finale to lock up the NL West title.
Sanchez is 0-1 with a 2.03 ERA in his two playoff starts, and he has pitched well against the Phillies throughout his career. In 10 appearances against them (six starts), he is 3-2 with a 2.88 ERA.
The teams split the first two games in Philadelphia, with Oswalt outdueling Sanchez in Game 2. Oswalt is 10-0 lifetime at Citizens Bank Park, where the Phillies went 54-30 this season.
The Phillies, who scored the second-most runs in the NL in the regular season, are still waiting for their offense to click. They're hitting .209 as a team in the series, and none of their position players are hitting over .300.
Clutch hits from Jayson Werth (4-for-16, 2 HR, 4 RBIs), Jimmy Rollins (5-for-19, 4 RBIs) and Placido Polanco (5-for-17, 5 RBIs) have kept them in it, though, and the bullpen that was barely used in the division series against Cincinnati has been solid.
Excluding the run Oswalt allowed in relief, the rest of the Phillies' relievers have allowed only two runs in 11 1/3 innings in the series.
If the series goes to a Game 7, Philadelphia's Cole Hamels and San Francisco's Matt Cain will square off Sunday night in a rematch of Game 3.