Oswalt said problems started with the squirrel

ST. LOUIS - For Roy Oswalt, six years and a couple of hundred yards represented the difference between glory and frustration.

Six years ago, in the Busch Stadium that stood a long fly ball to the north of the current Busch Stadium, Oswalt pitched the Houston Astros into the World Series by beating the Cardinals with a three-hitter in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series.

The 34-year-old righthander, who had never lost a postseason game in 10 starts, had a chance to pitch the Phillies into the NLCS on Wednesday, and again the Cardinals were standing in the way. This time, they didn't move, and the division series goes back to Citizens Bank Park for the decisive Game 5 as the result of the Cardinals' 5-3 win.

Oswalt didn't have the best command of his pitches. The two-run homer by David Freese in the sixth inning, a bomb that dropped over the center-field wall, was high in the zone. Freese's homer made it 5-2.

"I left a fastball up in the zone, and he hit it," said Oswalt, who gave up five runs over six innings.

But it was a pitch that Freese hit for a double in the fourth inning that scored two runs and rubbed out a 2-1 Phillies lead that gnawed at Oswalt more than anything else.

"I thought my worst pitch was probably the curveball to Freese for the double down the line," he said. "That was probably bad pitch selection."

Obviously, Oswalt wasn't at his best. But if Oswalt decides to pick through all the harmful little details, he will find that not a whole lot went his way, either.

Case in point: The 2-0 lead the Phillies gave him in the first inning was cut in half when centerfielder Shane Victorino lost his footing after fielding a double by Lance Berkman. Victorino tumbled backward, and so did the baseball, which trickled back to the wall, allowing Skip Schumaker to score from first base. The play was scored an error.

Case in point: With one out in the sixth inning, Matt Holliday chipped a foul pop that drifted toward the Cardinals dugout. Ryan Howard, who is not moving well because of a painful left heel, dived for the ball but couldn't get to it. Holliday hit a single, and, with two outs, Freese homered for the 5-2 lead.

As if to prove that this wasn't Oswalt's night, he said he was distracted when a squirrel ran in front of the batter's box as he was delivering a pitch to Schumaker. The pitch was called a ball. Oswalt told home-plate umpire Angel Hernandez he wanted the pitch back because he was distracted.

"He wouldn't take the pitch away, and I told him as I was throwing the ball I saw [the squirrel] out of the corner of my eye," Oswalt said. "I didn't want to stop in the middle of my motion, so I threw it, and I asked him if we could take that pitch back. He said no. Then he told me the count was 1-1 and when I got back on the mound he told me it was 2-1, so we kind of had a back and forth on that. I thought it was down a little bit. I got distracted. Never had anything like that happen before."