I don't know why I gravitated towards Roy Oswalt. I first watched him pitch in 2002. At that point I wasn't a real baseball fan apart from some partial interest in the Yankees. I don't know what it was about him. He was short, but at that point I was tall for my age, so it probably wasn't that. My cousin Andy was from Houston, so the prospect of following the team from Houston was interesting. Their stadium was nice and unique. I can't explain it. Call it true love. I hope to experience the same random attraction to someone someday that I can marry. Hopefully I'll be able to explain it more than my love for the Astros.
Roy Oswalt retired yesterday. It didn't make big news. Not only wasn't he not the best pitcher to retire this offseason, he wasn't eve the best 'Roy' to retire. Still, Oswalt retires an underrated pitcher that was really good for a solid 10 years. He won't be missed by too many, but he'll be missed by me. My favorite MLB player of my time being a baseball fan retired. He's the first of my favorites to retire, and it all ended so quickly.
I was there watching when he won 20 games in 2004 and 2005. I was there when he pitched dominantly in September year after year. I was there when he pitched two games in the 2005 NLCS, both on the road in St. Louis, both following Astros losses, and won both, giving up one run in seven innings each time out against a scary offensive lineup. I was there when he won World Series MVP and Drayton McClane gifted him with a giant Caterpillar tractor, which he seemed as excited to get as a trip to the World Series.
Roy Oswalt was a really good pitcher for a long time. From 2001-2010, he was probably the 3rd best pitcher in baseball, but was always overshadowed. First, it was Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson dominating 2001-2004. Then it was Johan Santana dominating 2005-2007. Finally, it was Halladay, Felix and Lincecum in 2008-2010. Still, other than Halladay and to some degree Johan, those guys came and went. Oswalt stayed. He opened 2001 by going 14-3 with a 2.73 ERA and 170 ERA+ in his rookie seasn. He ended it going 13-13 with a 2.76 ERA and 145 ERA+ in 2010.
Roy Oswalt was a great pitcher. He threw a fastball between 90-95 that he was never afraid to leave up. In his prime, he followed that up with a dominant, 65-mph curveball that froze people. Later in his career, he developed a really nice changeup. He mixed pitches well, hit his spot well, never walked too many guys, and kept the Astros in games. Even as the team deteriorated from 2006-2009, Oswalt gave the Stros a chance each 5th day. There is not more you can ask from a pitcher.
I'll never get to watch him pitch again, but now I don't have to worry about him pitching for the most random of teams. I don't have to worry about him lowering his career numbers even more. I can treasure the memories of just how good he was at times. He was absolutely dominant in September (so good that it led Bill James to name him the best 'big-game' regular season pitcher ever. That's probably an overstatement, but he was a major reason why the Astros went from 56-60 to 92-70 in 2004 (a 36-10 finish), and 15-30 to 89-73 (a 74-43 finish) in 2005.
Roy Oswalt's defining game will always be Game 6 of the 2005 NLCS. Game 5 of the NLCS could have ended up as one of the most famous baseball playoff games of all time. To reset, with the Astros leading the series 3-1 and playing at home, Lance Berkman hit a home run to give the Astros a 4-2 lead in the 6th inning. Come the 9th inning, Brad Lidge entered the game. He was off of 1.5 seasons as the league's best closer. He quickly struck out the first two batters, but then David Eckstein got a nibbler single. Jim Edmonds drew a walk. And then Albert Pujols hit a home run that still hasn't landed. The Juicebox (Minute Maid Park) went from delirous before Eckstein batted, to cautious optimism when Pujols came up to the plate, to abject disaster and haunting silence after Pujols launched that home run.
It could have been crushing. The Astros blew a 3-2 lead in the series to the Cardnals the year before, losing Game 7 in St. Louis despite leading in the 7th inning. They could have clinched in their park, but instead they had to return to St. Louis. The Astros could easily have been ruined, but they had their trump card, they had Roy Oswalt.
There's a common baseball saying that 'momentum is your next day's starting pitcher.' It was never as true than this game. In the bottom of the 1st inning, Roy Oswalt faced Albert Pujols. He got him to two strikes, and then threw a fastball high and in. Pujols awkwardly swung, with the swing coupling with his scaring off the ball causing Albert to fall to his knees and strike out. The game was basically over then. Roy Oswalt was not losing that game.
Roy Oswalt left an impression on Houston that will never go away. He was our ace. He and Lance Berkman were the people that valiantly carried the legacy of the post-Bagwell and Biggio Astros. The Astros never really played all that well in those days aside from a random 86-win season in 2008, but they always played like they were on a playoff caliber team.
Roy Oswalt will never pitch again, but I still have the memories. I still have that Game 6. I still ahve the weird memory of his brilliant performance in Game 2 of the 2010 NLCS when he was on the Phillies. I'll have the memory of him signing a below-market extension at 29 in 2006 and never leaving open any chance he would voluntarily sign with anyone but the Astros. By Roy, I'll always treasure the memories.
