NLCS: Oswalt delivers all-around effort; Rollins gets new outlook

NLCS: Oswalt delivers all-around effort; Rollins gets new outlook

Roy Oswalt went eight innings, striking out nine and allowing three hits and one run, to help the Phillies even the NLCS against the Giants at one game apiece.

PHILADELPHIA — He is not the Rolls-Royce on the car showroom or the Armani suit in a men's clothing store, but Philadelphia Phillies starter Roy Oswalt is showing you don't have to be glitzy to look good.

Oswalt, the Phillies' consolation prize after trading away Cliff Lee last offseason, helped save their season Sunday by beating the San Francisco Giants 6-1 with his arm, legs and bat. Oswalt's performance enabled the Phillies to even the National League Championship Series at one game apiece. The teams resume the best-of-seven series Tuesday with the first of three games in San Francisco.

Oswalt stymied the Giants, yielding three hits, one run and striking out nine in eight innings.

CALLING THE SHOTS: Ruiz helps Phillies pitchers deliver

NLCS MATCHUP: Breakdown of the Phillies-Giants series

"That is exactly what we got him for," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said.

If that wasn't enough, he broke open a 2-1 game by leading off the seventh with a single and scoring after running through third-base coach Sam Perlozzo's stop sign.

The Phillies badly needed the victory, knowing that no team has lost the first two games at home and come back to win the NLCS. They've got new life from the former Houston Astros ace who was MVP of the 2005 NLCS, the last time Oswalt had appeared in the postseason.

"I think the biggest thing is that it's momentum," said Oswalt, who is undefeated in nine career postseason starts. "You're trying to make momentum come back on your side."

Certainly, no one needed to regain momentum more than Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins, who entered the game hitting .067 (1-for-15) in the postseason, with three strikeouts in Game 1. By the time the game ended, he had a three-run double, a bases-loaded walk, a single and a whole new outlook.

"I've been the same for the last 10 years," he said. "You figure out things. You solve problems. Sometimes there's going to be confusion. But once you lose the confidence, you're not going to have a chance to play at this level.

"So that's never going to be there. God gave me this talent, and I'm going to do something with it."

It's the same with Oswalt, who always has been known for his pitching prowess, but showed that he's an athlete, too. He saw Perlozzo hold his hands up but thought he could score, so he kept running.

"I was halfway to home when I saw the stop sign, and it was too late," Oswalt said.

If Giants first baseman Aubrey Huff had seen Oswalt, he might have thrown him out at home. Instead, Huff apparently was the only one to pick up Perlozzo's stop sign, and he cut off center fielder Andres Torres' throw.

"No question," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said, shaking his head. "He would have been out by 10, 15 feet."

Said Manuel: "I said, 'Go for it.' What the hell are we going to do, rope him? I ain't that good. I'm not a cowboy. I might look like one, talk like one, but I'm not one."