A year and a month after being traded to the Philadelphia Phillies, Roy Oswalt returns to Houston for the first time. The Astros have faced him since, but he has not pitched at Minute Maid Park until tonight, where he squares off against Brett Myers in the first of a three game set.
↵↵↵↵"The team is a little bit different but it's still Houston," Oswalt said. "They gave me a chance coming out of junior college to play, so it's kind of special to go back."
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The same goes for Hunter Pence, who has started strongly in his Phillies' career, putting up a .956 OPS in 37 games. It will be interesting to see what sort of reaction both are given by the Houston faithful, and they can probably expect a warmer reaction than the tepid applause Lance Berkman received in his first game with the Cardinals in Houston.
↵Oswalt had 143 wins with the Astros, second all-time behind Joe NIekro.
↵The showdown will pit the major league's best team (94-49) against MLB's worst (49-97).