uan Uribe wasn’t supposed to play on Wednesday, and Roy Oswalt wasn’t supposed to pitch Wednesday.
But there they were, squaring off in the ninth inning of a 5-5 game at AT&T Park, in the most important at-bat of what was probably the best game of the entire postseason. The Giants had two runners on the base -- Aubrey Huff at third, Buster Posey at first -- and there was only one out in the inning.
Uribe was at the plate, Oswalt was on the mound.
Uribe wasn’t supposed to play because of the sore left wrist that kept him out of Game 2 of the NLCS vs. the Phillies, the same sore left wrist that contributed to an 0-for-3 night in Game 3 that dropped his postseason average to .095 (2-for-21). As the game developed, though, manager Bruce Bochy made several double-switches, and Uribe thought his number might be called, sore wrist and all.
“I tried to be ready for something to happen,” Uribe said.
Oswalt wasn’t supposed to pitch because he was the Phillies’ Game 2 starter -- he allowed just three hits and one run in eight outstanding innings -- and was scheduled to start again if the series made it to Game 6. But Joe Blanton failed to last five innings Wednesday, and as the Phillies started churning through the pitchers in the rapid succession, a thought crept into Oswalt’s mind.
“I thought I could eat up an inning,” Oswalt said. “Maybe save Brad (Lidge) from having to go out and pitch without a save opportunity.”
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