Back pain KO's Oswalt in Phils loss; MRI set for Monday

ST. LOUIS - It takes a lot of strength for a man as small as Roy Oswalt to hurl a pitch as powerful as his fastball to a plate 60 feet, 6 inches away. It takes even more for someone to do so when even the simplest of tasks is accompanied by a shooting pain in his lower back. So as Oswalt stood in front of a pack of reporters at Busch Stadium last night, he spoke with the words and inflections of man who is unsure of what is left when that strength is gone.

"You throw as long as you can throw, and when you can't throw no more, you can't throw no more," the 33-year-old righthander said after his balky back forced him to leave the Phillies' 12-2 loss to the Cardinals after two innings. "I'm going to keep throwing as long as I can, and hopefully it's not gotten to the point where I can't throw no more. But if it's gotten to that point, you just have to accept it."

Those could be the words of a frustrated competitor who simply needs some time to heal, or they could be the first hints of acknowledgment from an athlete whose body has broken down. Oswalt and the team that acquired him last July will not know more until Monday morning, when he is scheduled to undergo an MRI exam.

One thing is clear: Barring a miracle, Oswalt will not make his next scheduled start, and the Phillies will be forced to address an area of their ballclub that is supposed to be the bedrock of a championship run. Soon after he took the mound last night, it became apparent that he would not last long. He was coming off a disappointing start in Seattle, one in which pain gripped his back in the third inning and did not let go for the rest of his six innings of work.

Six days later, the discomfort still had not subsided.

"I feel it when I sit down and I stand up, when I walk, pitch, sleep," Oswalt said.

He got leadoff batter Ryan Theriot to fly out, then allowed a home run to John Jay. Oswalt finished the first with the last two outs, but was battered into submission in the second. As he walked off the mound at the end of the inning, a 4-0 deficit already on the scoreboard, the Phillies' bullpen had begun to stir. Cliff Lee pinch-hit for him, and Kyle Kendrick replaced him, holding the Cardinals to two runs in four innings.