It could prove to be nothing more than a scary moment; Oswalt was found to have a neck bruise, while X-rays and a CT scan returned negative. He never lost consciousness and he did not feel dizzy, the team said.
"I'm good," Oswalt said while walking to his car. Brian Schneider was with him, having first played the role of catcher and now chauffeur back to Clearwater.
At this point, Manuel may have few qualms about skipping these final eight exhibition games. What else can go wrong?
Currently, regulars Chase Utley, Placido Polanco, Brad Lidge, Shane Victorino, Jose Contreras, and Domonic Brown are sidelined with injuries. Some will return soon, perhaps as early as Thursday. Others will not.
Two things spared Oswalt. First, the ball was not hit off the sweet spot of the bat by Ramirez.
"Manny didn't really hit the ball hard," Manuel said. "He hit the ball OK, but he didn't crush it."
Second, Oswalt had just enough time after his follow-through to turn his back toward home plate. Otherwise, the ball could have hit him in the face.
Still, Oswalt didn't move immediately after falling to the ground as the ball rolled to a stop a few feet away.
"It didn't look like it was hit that hard," Dubee said. "But still, you don't know. I didn't know where it hit him until I got out there."
The righthander pointed to the back of his neck as Schneider knelt down. After about a minute of talking with Andersen, Oswalt popped up to applause. Schneider plopped the ball in Oswalt's glove and, after a brief conversation with Dubee, he surrendered it.
"He kind of grinned and said he was all right," Manuel said.
Oswalt threw 57 pitches, and Dubee said he did not believe the injury would prevent him from making his next start in four days. This was supposed to be Oswalt's longest outing before the regular season. But because he threw 80 pitches in a previous start, Dubee said he was not concerned.
The pitching coach said he couldn't repeat the first thing Oswalt said. Manuel said it might have scared Oswalt, who wanted to stay in. That wasn't happening.
In three innings, Oswalt allowed three runs on four hits. He struck out four and walked none. Right before facing Ramirez, he allowed a solo home run to Evan Longoria. The Phillies lost the Grapefruit League game, 4-1.
That, of course, was all secondary Wednesday. It's March 24, and already Manuel has been forced to deal with his share of injuries. This one was the scariest yet.
"Worried? You don't have time to worry," Manuel said. "What the hell? You jump up and run out to the mound."
The scene awaiting was not as grim as it initially looked.
Contact staff writer Matt Gelb
at mgelb@phillynews.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/magelb
