As the year comes to a close it’s time to look back at some of the top moments from the Philadelphia Phillies 2010 season. While the team came short of their ultimate goal of winning a World Series championship, there were still several great memories from the past year. It’s time to look back on the top moments of 2010 leading up to the number one memory which will be unveiled on New Years Eve.
#13 Roy Story 2 – October 17th
In this series the sequel was better than the original.
The Phillies bounced back in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series with a 6-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants to even their best-of-seven series 1-1.
“It’s definitely big to get this ‘W,'” Shane Victorino said. “It’s a five-game series. It’s not a best-of-seven anymore. It’s a best of five.”
Roy Oswalt was absolutely brilliant on the mound for the Phillies. He allowed one run on three hits and three walks while striking out nine in eight dominant innings against the Giants. The righty had pitched in several big postseason games in his career and came up large under the bright lights of October once again.
“The biggest thing is momentum,” Oswalt said. “You’re trying to make momentum come back to your side. I’m hoping for a momentum switch and get to San Francisco and take the series there.”
Roy Oswalt scores a huge insurance run for the Phillies
With the victory Oswalt moved to 3-0 in his National League Championship Series career. All three of his victories followed a loss by his team in the previous game. However Oswalt biggest memory from Game 2 may have come away from the mound.
After singling to start the bottom of the 7th inning, the Phillies bunted Oswalt up to 2nd base as he represented an extremely important insurance run in a 2-1 ball game. After Chase Utley was intentionally walked, 3rd baseman Placido Polanco singled to shallow center field and Oswalt was off to the races. He blew threw a stop sign by 3rd base coach Sam Perlozzo and barely scored after 1st baseman Aubrey Huff cutoff the throw to the plate. Three batters later, Jimmy Rollins blew the game open with an RBI double and the Phillies were well on their way to victory.
“The first thing that went through my mind was ‘score,'” Oswalt said. “I read it pretty well coming off the bat. I didn’t look at the center fielder and see how close he was. But as soon as he hit it, I knew it was over the infield. First thing in my mind was ‘score.’ When I got halfway, I saw the stop sign. I said, ‘It’s too late now. No turning back.'”
“I had my hands over my eyes,” Perlozzo said. “Sometimes you get lucky, and he got lucky.”
Home plate umpire Dan Iassogna makes the call at the plate
“I thought, “Go for it,'” added Charlie Manuel. “What the (heck) 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.”
“I made a decision there on the cutoff,” said Aubrey Huff. “As I’m getting by the mound, I glanced at the third-base coach and he had his hands up. So I cut it off. The throw was on the money – it nails him. I have to let it go.”
“No question we had Oswalt dead,” added Giants manager Bruce Bochy. “He was out by 10, 15 feet. But Aubrey thought he was holding up. That’s why he cut the ball off.”
It was a critical victory for the Phillies against a tough left-hander in Jonathan Sanchez. Sanchez was 3-1 with a 2.48 ERA lifetime against the Phillies, holding them to a .147 average. During the 2010 season, outside of Shane Victorino, the Phillies were a combined 1/33 with 11 strikeouts against the Giants lefty.
Patience was the key for Philadelphia’s offense. The Phillies scored a first inning run without getting a hit thanks to a bases loaded walk by Jimmy Rollins. They forced Sanchez to throw 35 first inning pitches.
“You could tell that was the game plan,” said Giants catcher Buster Posey. “Victorino took a called strike three pitches in a row. You could tell they were trying to be patient.”
Roy Oswalt and the Phillies evened the NLCS 1-1
The Giants were able to tie the game 1-1 with one out in the fifth inning on a Cody Ross solo home run. It was the third home run in four at-bats for Ross and broke up Oswalt’s no hitter. The Phillies struck back in the bottom of the fifth with some small ball as Shane Victorino scored on a sacrifice fly by Placido Polanco. Philadelphia then broke it open in the bottom of the 7th to even the series 1-1.
“If you’re down 2-0, you’re in a rough spot,” said right fielder Jayson Werth. “We’d rather be up 2-0 going to San Fran, but we’ll take the split. We’ll try to win two out of three there, if not three out of three and win this series. Whatever we need to do to win this series, we’re going to do it.”
After losing game one of a playoff series for the first time since the 2007 National League Divisional Series against the Colorado Rockies, the Phillies were able to bounce back thanks to a great performance from Roy Oswalt and make the NLCS a best-of-five series.
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