Houston Astros at Chicago Cubs, Sep 1, 2008 3:05 PM CDT

I hope Roy Oswalt continues the Dr. Jekyll part of his "Jeckyll and Hyde" season. I reported last time that Roy Oswalt was sporting a 4.29 DIPS ERA. I was hoping to get my hands on some more manipulative data, but road blocks have halted me at every turn in pursing it. Plan B, will be to track Roy's DIPS ERA start by start and see if it continually decreases, indicating that he's still averaging out his terrible start. If that's the case, we can assume that injury or some freak mechanical issue, was just making him a wholly ineffective pitcher. Well, I just updated my spread sheet for his most recent start and the result was a 4.19 DIPS ERA. So we already have some leading indications that Roy Oswalt's second half resurgence is legitimate and we may just be able to erase April, May, and June from our collective memories. Marquis is your prototypical "inning-eater," the combination of which should provide us win number 6 in a row (I hope).

With post-season hopes not officially dead, but perilously far away, we as Astros fans should begin to look to play the spoiler role. I for one would be happy if we managed to derail the Cubs attempts to repeat as the Central champs. A series wins would go a long way for that cause.

Also, in the good news front, Wandy should be able to make his next start -- although part of me wants to call BS on this.

I'll end with this (I added the emphasis):

Wigginton also topped all August comers with an .806 slugging percentage. At the midway point of Houston's season, Wigginton had just five home runs in 185 plate appearances, but he more than tripled that total in the next 185, and in the process raised his seasonal OPS to 935. Among those players with at least 350 plate appearances, that ranks seventh in the National League, one spot behind injured teammate Carlos Lee, whose production in the lineup Wigginton has capably gone about replacing.