The familiar angle on Houston's surge

Monday, July 20, 2009 | Feedback | Print Entry

The Astros are 27-17 in their last 44 games, which is actually par for the course for Houston. Year after year, the Astros seem to start slowly and then just take off. "I think it's because we've got older players," Roy Oswalt said over the phone on Saturday. "Young guys don't know how long the season is. They might figure there's no way to catch up. But older guys know that all it takes is a good run, winning 10 out of 14, and you're right back in it."

It also helps that Oswalt is throwing as well as he ever has, according to veteran scouts who've seen him recently. Over his last five starts, Oswalt has allowed seven earned runs in 38 innings, and Houston is 4-1. He attributes the improvement to the evolution of his relationship with new Astros catcher Ivan Rodriguez. For years, the Houston pitchers were accustomed to throwing to Brad Ausmus, but Ausmus departed as a free agent last winter, and late in spring training the Astros signed Rodriguez, who has spent most of his career in the AL.

"That's a big thing, because there is a different way of playing in the two leagues," said Oswalt. "Over there, you see a lot of off-speed stuff, and the National League is more of a fastball league. You get ahead in the count 0-2 in the AL and you're going to see a lot of off-speed stuff, but over here, you see pitchers challenge the hitters more.

"We're just learning each other. People don't have a real understanding of how important the relationship is between a pitcher and a catcher."

There was no time for Rodriguez to really get to know the Houston pitchers, either, because of when he joined the team, said Oswalt. "Every pitcher pitches different, and he had to learn all that. A pitcher might throw four pitches, but he might have two go-to pitches, and [the catcher] has to learn that."

Ausmus actually helped to take down the Astros on Sunday, as Jesus Ortiz writes.

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  • Buster Olney Buster Olney

    Buster Olney is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine. He began covering baseball in 1989, as the Nashville Banner's beat reporter assigned to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. Later, he covered the San Diego Padres (1993-94), the Baltimore Orioles ('95-96), the New York Mets ('97) and the Yankees ('98-2001). Olney joined ESPN The Magazine in 2003, after six years at The New York Times, and he's the author of the Times' best-seller "The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty," a book about the Paul O'Neill-Tino Martinez Yankees dynasty of 1996-01.

    He grew up in central Vermont collecting baseball cards and listening to Red Sox, Expos, Phillies and Pirates radio broadcasts, and was a rabid fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He graduated from Vanderbilt University the same year as hoops legend Will Perdue, and ranks among the all-time leading scorers in pickup basketball at Memorial Gym. He claims to have witnessed the Commodores' winning football season in 1982 (although anthropologists have not yet confirmed this).

    Olney also contributes to ESPN.com, ESPN Radio, ESPNEWS, "SportsCenter" and "Baseball Tonight."

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