Umpires permit Oswalt to bring rosin bag, pitching rubber into outfield to ease anxiety

Philadelphia, PA--Sixteen innings of baseball, over five hours of play, will empty seats, not only in the stadium but in the dugout as well. On Tuesday night, the Phillies and the Astros worked overtime to decide a game that was tied in the bottom of the ninth when Jimmy Rollins sent a solo shot into the right field seats.

That much time on the field will not only test stamina--although, it is baseball--but nerves and patience as well. The composure of all on the field are put to the test, including, like, oh, I don't know, the third base umpire Scott Barry.

Part of the reason the Phils bench was so empty, never mind the 16-inning marathon, was that Barry had thrown first baseman Ryan Howard out of the game in the 14th inning after the slugger questioned a checked swing called strike and then appeared to show up the umpire with body language. Actually, the tension between the two went back to earlier in the at bat, but, nonetheless, Howard's departure meant, other than pitchers, there was no one left to play the field.

Enter Roy Oswalt, the team's number two starting pitcher, recently acquired from ... Houston. Oswalt, who admitted later that he was terrified to play outfield, received a warm ovation from the remaining late night crowd. His anxiety was eased somewhat when an old, familiar, reliable friend (a friend to all pitchers) accompanied the pitcher to the land beyond the infield.

"I wasn't going out there without a rosin bag, and I told Charlie [Manuel] that," said Oswalt, who successfully fielded a fly ball bringing the fans to a roar and a smile to the Mississippi native. "At one point, I turned back, gave a wink to the rosin bag and said, 'Hey, rosin! You got to back me up if a ball gets past me. Ha, ha. You crack me up rosin bag.'"

The rosin bag is usually placed on the backside of the mound and used when pitchers feel they need a better grip on the ball to improve their control. To ease Oswalt even more, the grounds crew, between innings and before the pitcher took the field, quickly installed a pitching rubber that was flush with the grass turf.

"My comfort out there is really a credit to the grounds crew, and, even though they had a tough night, the umpires too for allowing me to take a rosin bag and a pitching rubber with me. It made me feel like I was on the mound. Yeah, it was like a mound out there, but just really, really far from home plate ... and not as hilly."

After catching the fly ball, Oswalt ran the handful of steps back to the grass-surrounded rubber, went through a stretch windup and threw the ball to the cutoff man. Wow, only in baseball!