Still tied up through 10. Barker made another great baserunning move though. Why is he still on the roster?
I like being wrong. Although it pains me to see him pitch, especially if EuFLABIo is behind the plate. Tony can't catch to save his life. DaDakota
Man, after reading the first post in this thread and not knowing anything about the game tonight, I was expecting us to be winning by a large margin. It was only a 1-1 game at the time guys!!! If there is one thing this team is good at, it's winning close games. That will be an very valuable asset come the playoffs...if we make them. Keep your fingers crossed!! We're up 3 games now.
Roy Oswalt is on the cover of my Sporting News. It's not where you start . . . August 23, 2001 To say that Roy Oswalt, the best rookie pitcher in the National League, came from nowhere is an exaggeration. Weir, Miss., (population 525) is somewhere. It's about 30 miles from Starkville and halfway between Ackerman and McCool. It's home to a high school football power -- for its size -- and even has a baseball team. Has had one since Roy's sophomore year, and it only took months of arm-twisting by his daddy, Billy Joe Oswalt, to convince the school to start one. Weir is 40-some miles from Goodman, home of Holmes Community College. You have to go about 25 miles from Goodman to find a McDonald's, but you don't have to leave town to find a top junior-college baseball team. Haven't had to since Roy Oswalt pitched there. Weir is where Oswalt and his wife, Nichol, are building their home. While there, the Astros righthander will hunt, fish and continue to help out his junior college team in the fall. "Once you grow up in the country, I'm not sure you ever really like the concrete," says Billy Joe Oswalt. No one can blame Roy for wanting to stay true to his roots. For years, few figured he ever would leave anyway, except for Oswalt. Even when he was a scrawny teen throwing in the mid-80s and mulling exactly one scholarship offer, Oswalt knew he could pitch against the big boys. Weir is the place he developed the fearlessness to throw a 95-mph fastball wherever he wants. If that means putting it a little too inside for the batter, so be it. Oswalt (pronounced OZE-walt) has numbers (9-2, 3.29 ERA) that demand respect. "I think coming from the country made Roy more determined," his father says. "He went to a baseball camp at Mississippi State once, and even though he was throwing just as hard and well as anyone there, he hardly was noticed because he wasn't from one of the big schools." When the first-place Astros send out Oswalt with the pennant on the line, they don't see an overwhelmed kid just short of his 24th birthday. They see a pitcher who rose from Class A to the majors in less than a year. They see a guy who attacks batters. They see an Olympic champion who pitched two great games in Sydney. "A lot of people get caught up with being in the big leagues and approach the game differently," Oswalt says. "But you can't approach the game like these guys are better than you. You have to go out there and say you're better than them. You have to take the approach that no one's going to beat you. I try to go out there and no matter who steps in there, I go right after them." To see how Oswalt's determination has paid off, consider his early development. James Ferrar, who worked the Weir area for the Astros, was the only scout to see him pitch his freshman season at Holmes. Oswalt was throwing in the low 90s, but he was very raw. His windup was more step-and-throw than anything. Because the Astros knew there was little interest, they were able to grab Oswalt in the 23rd round. Instead of signing, Oswalt took the advice of Kenny DuPont, then the pitching coach at Holmes, and returned for his sophomore season. It was not a difficult decision, considering that Oswalt had never heard of the draft until the Astros called. DuPont, a former scout, knew that if Oswalt improved he would command a much bigger bonus and, sure enough, Oswalt came back throwing in the mid-90s. In his first game, one scout was in attendance. By the end of the season, there were close to 40 and they were watching the top-ranked junior college pitcher in the land. To sign Oswalt before he went back into the draft, the Astros had to come up with a $500,000 signing bonus -- very unusual for a low-round pick. "A Roy Oswalt comes along once in a lifetime," DuPont says. "He had a plan. He worked so hard. He'd be out in the rain playing long toss by himself. We used to have to kick him off the field at night." Oswalt started last season at Class A. In May, he pitched a shutout as an emergency starter at Class AA and was on his way. By the end of the season, he was a key starter on the U.S. Olympic team. Oswalt started this season in Class AAA and was called up after five starts. He got his first big-league start after almost a month in the bullpen. He has lost one decision since. "A lot of young pitchers do fine as long as there's no one on base," Astros pitching coach Burt Hooton says. "But when they get into trouble, they get worse. They need to get better. Roy is one who gets better." http://www.sportingnews.com/voices/stan_mcneal/20010823k.html
