Matchup/Game Thread Game # 47 at Nationals

Roy Oswalt	Mike O'Connor
5 - 3, 3.57	2 - 2, 2.89

Does it seem to you like Oswalt has been hit around a little bit more than usual lately? Cause I dunno, it just seems to me like Oswalt might have been hit around a bit more than usual lately, and maybe you think it looks like Oswalt has been hit a bit more recently, too. How about that, line drives are up, and check out that Cardinals game, where Royboy gives up three jacks but also gives up a season low in line drives.

Hmmmm . . . .

Anyway, I'll assume that Willy has been given the 50 lashes with a limp noodle by Cheo, and that Springer has been given a stern talking to by whoever does the talking to your aged bullpen leaders.

All that, combined with Garner's belated realization that it's just not OK anymore to bat PW fifth, and we might have a chance tonight to pull one off with Roy O, some good defense, and some positive relief.

You feel that aura? That buzzy something in the air? Scientists explain to us that the slight dizziness you're experiencing, and the hair-on-its-ends feeling you're getting, is actually due to the charged particles--the actual oxygen ions--that accumulate in the lower atmosphere prior to a dominant appearance by Brad Lidge.

[UPDATE: Boy was I wrong when I wrote THAT]

But this O'Connor guy has the good low ERA, and he two-hit the Mets over seven on May 2nd. And of course the Astros have never seen him. So ring the alarums and grab the Pepto Bismol 'cause it could be another night of offensive inefficiency.

Roy gave up five runs on 7 hits over 6-1/3 back in Houston on April 8 to the Nats. Soriano homered off him, but no-one else had an extra base hit, and no-one had two hits off him. Truth be told, a decent outing from Chad Qualls that night would have spared Oswalt two of the runs.

Brian Schneider, who is of course now on the DL, is the only current National with an OPS over .900 against Roy. Vidro is the best of the rest against Oswalt; he's 6 for 17 with a triple. Zimmerman is only 1 for 3, and Johnson is only 1 for 5.

Maybe Robinson will have Johnson bunt again tonight. Or maybe they'll send Zimmerman down before the game. . . .

Gotta get a win here. It's not that they don't get easier, 'cause actually they do, in Pittsburgh, but St. Louis is back to five up, and despite Carpenter being scratched they appear headed to victory as I write in their series with the Giants.