Changes for Oswalt and the Astros / Backe Pitching

Changes for Oswalt and the Astrosposted: Saturday, February 17, 2007 | Feedback | Print Entry

It was a busy offseason for Roy Oswalt, who somehow managed to convince his father, a lifetime logger in Weir, Miss., to retire his chainsaws. The day that Oswalt signed his five-year, $73 million contract last summer (which went from being a criticized market-setting deal to a bargain in about two months), he had promised that he would convince his 59-year-old dad to do something else with the rest of his life, rather than continue in a very dangerous line of work.

The Oswalts are known to be a stubborn and independent family, but Roy and his mother worked diligently, and lo and behold, Billy Oswalt is no longer logging professionally. At 59, he is thinking about doing something much easier, like fencing 200 acres and tending to a herd of 75 beef cattle.


And Roy Oswalt is back in Astros camp, the leader of a very different Houston rotation, thinking about how to ways to make himself better. Oswalt and the Astros' pitchers and catchers worked in the bullpen Friday, amid the surprisingly cold wind of Kissimmee, Fla. Oswalt is fussing with a changeup, a pitch that he wants to employ particularly against right-handed hitters. Last year, the Mets' Tom Glavine demonstrated that pitchers could have success aiming changeups at the inside corner, destroying conventional wisdom that it is a bad idea to throw changeups in that spot.


"If I get it inside, they'll foul it off," said Oswalt, who threw his change to college hitters in January. Oswalt noticed that even with less bat speed than most major league hitters, the collegians still were ahead of his changeup and yanking it foul, a good sign. "I'm going to tinker with it in spring training," he said.


Andy Pettitte is not here with Oswalt, and neither is Roger Clemens. Two lockers down from Oswalt, newcomer Jason Jennings dressed, and across the clubhouse, on the other side, were some of the candidates for the open spots at the back end of the Houston rotation. Astros manager Phil Garner had watched them all throw and wanted to downplay what he saw, with reason: He doesn't want them overthrowing this early in camp, in this cold. "I don't want to be impressed right now," he said. "It's not a good time to be impressed."


Garner spoke to Jennings for the first time, and recalled what he had seen of the right-hander when he pitched against the Astros. "He's got good movement on his fastball, throws the ball down in the strike zone. He looked like he was not just throwing out there on the mound -- he looked like he was in charge on the mound."


The Astros' expectation is that a couple of their young pitchers will emerge to create stability in the rotation behind Oswalt. Wandy Rodriguez has a lot of experience but has been inconsistent. "Typically, he can have an inning where he'll give up three or four runs," said Garner. "And if he can get away from that, he can be pretty good."


Fernando Nieve has talent, which was reflected in the .242 opponents' batting average against him, in 96.1 innings. Chris Sampson pitched in 12 games last season, allowed 25 hits and just five walks in 34 innings, and greatly impressed teammates with his poise, his mound presence, his aggressiveness. Garner had a one-word assessment of Sampson: "Strikes." As in: That's what he does, throw strikes.


Brandon Backe is here and throwing surprisingly well for a guy who is only months removed from surgery, but the Astros aren't counting on him to be a factor until midseason, at the earliest. What they need, in the first couple of months, is for Oswalt to pitch like he usually does, for Jennings to thrive in a new place, for Woody Williams to give them a solid six innings when he takes the mound.


If it's late May and they're in the race, Clemens could come back, Sampson or Matt Alberts or Nieve could emerge. In the muddled scrum that is the NL Central, that could be enough.

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