Roy Oswalt Puts on a Clinic

Okay, so this isn't a Youth sports note, and I don't know how much you watched Wednesday evening, but what I saw made me a big fan of Roy Oswalt, and of an aggressive, REALLY smart pitching style. With the aid of a good performance by Brad Ausmus, Oswalt moved the ball in and out, up and down seemingly at will. He kept the ball down throughout most of the evening, bringing it up ONLY when he chose to.

Good case in point was his work against St Louis centerfielder, Reggie Sanders. His first two at-bats Oswalt contiued to throw heat up and in, confounding the slugger. Third time up? Down and dirty two-seam fastballs that Reggie could only watch go by. Boom done.

MLB called his performance "a postseason game for the ages" and likened his Busch Stadium outing to great ones by Cardinals hurlers like Bob Gibson, John Tudor and Chris Carpenter. Certainly more-so than anything seen from counterpart Mulder, who has given us good discussion points for our pitchers and infielders ths next practice, i.e. KNOW where you're going with the next play, ALWAYS hustle to cover the base, and BREATHE when things seem to be unravelling around you. Mulder's throat and cheeks tightened up more and more as the game went on, and Lane's solo shot to left might has well have gone through his heart, cause it all ended pretty quickly afterwards.

Congrats to Roy Oswalt and the Houston Astros. They made Puholz's shot a footnote, and their efforts showed a strong sense of destiny. Kinda like those guys on the south side of Chicago. Should be a great match-up come Saturday.