Oswalt Stakes Claim as Astros Top Gun

After two years of pitching in the shadow of Roger Clemens, Astros pitcher Roy Oswalt has shown this postseason why some consider him the Astros top starter. On January 19, 2004, the Houston Astros signed a pitcher who they thought would lead them to their first World Series. Roger Clemens, sure-fire first ballot Hall of Famer and Texas native was bringing over 300 wins and six (now seven) Cy Young Awards to a franchise that had never even won a post-season series. January 19, 2004 will always be remembered as a great day in Astros history.

But, as it turns out the day that long suffering Houston fans should celebrate every year is June 4. On that day in 1996, Houston selected right-hand pitcher Roy Oswalt from Holmes Community College in Mississippi. Over 700 players were chosen ahead of Oswalt. Something tells me if they had it to do over again, the Pittsburgh Pirates would have taken Oswalt at number one instead of Kris Benson.

Astros fans learned early how good Roy Oswalt really was. Many salivated, awaiting his arrival in Houston, as they watched him dominate hitters in the Texas League. In 2000, they learned just what Oswalt was made of when they watched him match zeros with Korea’s Tae-Hyon Chong during Team USA’s historic run to the Gold Medal in Sydney. Even though the Brewer’s Ben Sheets left Sydney with all the glory, it was Oswalt’s guts and electric right arm that set up Sheets in the Gold Medal game.

Sheets returned as a hero while Oswalt was kind of the forgotten man from those Olympic games. As it would turn out, that was just the beginning of a long stretch of Oswalt being overshadowed by media darlings, but never out performed. Witness Houston’s “Big 3” starters. Most consider the lineup to be Clemens, Andy Pettitte, and then Oswalt.

Can you name the only pitcher to win 20 games in each of the last two seasons? It’s not Roger Clemens or Johan Santana. It’s Roy Oswalt, who has amassed 83 wins in just 145 starts over his first five seasons. So how does a pitcher so good at chalking up victories, and who has a career earned run average of 3.07, never seem to get the accolades he deserves?

Maybe its because he plays in Houston. Maybe, it’s the imposing shadow of Roger Clemens in the same rotation. Or is it because Oswalt tends to his business without fanfare? He doesn’t participate in any self-promotion and often seems unfazed by those who seek to thrust it on him. Before this year’s postseason, Roy Oswalt was the most under appreciated star in Major League Baseball.

It seems that has all changed now. His MVP performance in this year’s NLCS has thrust him into the limelight. When the dust settled from Albert Pujols’ dramatic ninth-inning home run Monday night, many wrote the Astros off, saying they couldn’t recover. After the initial weeping, Astros fans still knew they had hope. Roy Oswalt was pitching game 6. And after his masterful performance, its time most people realize they should have thought the same thing.