Astros impressed by Happ's drive

KISSIMMEE, Fla. - The thick silence of defeat eneveloped the visitors' clubhouse in St. Louis when the new guy walked through Brad Mills' door. Earlier that night, the Houston Astros' manager had watched his club's seven-game win streak end with an 8-4 loss, and now the pitcher who allowed most of the damage was standing in front of him.

For a couple of minutes, Mills and pitching coach Brad Arnsberg listened as J.A. Happ apologized for his performance.

"I don't want you to think that is what you are going to get," Happ told them. "I just want you to know, that's not me."

Having acquired him just 7 days earlier as the centerpiece of package for longtime ace Roy Oswalt, Arnsberg and Mills certainly could have entertained doubts. Instead, both men marinated in a moment that sticks with them to this day.

"Impressive," Mills recalled at the Astros' spring-training complex. "The kid really showed his heart."

The problem with rock bottom is you don't know you've reached it until it's already gone. On that midsummer night in St. Louis, the only thing the former Phillies lefthander knew is that he felt impossibly alone. Traded by the organization that had developed him, abandoned by the fastball that had carried him to The Show, Happ looked into the future and for the first time saw black.

Sidelined by a forearm strain for most of the first 4 months of the season, Happ had struggled to reclaim the life and location on his four-seamer. In 21 1/3 innings, he had managed to hold opponents to three earned runs despite walking 16 batters. But in less than two innings against the Cardinals, everything blew up.

Of the 12 batters he faced, nine reached base. Of the 49 pitches he threw, 26 missed the strike zone. By the time it was over, Happ had allowed seven runs on six hits and three walks while recording just three outs.

"After that game, I was really wondering what was going to happen," Happ, 28, said the other day.

For one of the few times in his big-league career, which to that point had been a lesson in the instability of pro baseball, nothing happened. When you bring up that night in St. Louis to folks like Arnsberg, or Mills, or Astros general manager Ed Wade, they brush it off as just another evening that is bound to occur over the course of a 162-game season.

The Astros had zeroed in on Happ shortly after the Phillies began serious discussions with them in early- to mid-July. Wade, who was still the Phillies' GM when they drafted Happ in the third round in 2004, dispatched former major league reliever Doug Brocail and other scouts to watch him during a series of rehab starts at Lehigh Valley. Houston felt he had the potential to grow into a No. 2 or No. 3 starter. But they also wanted a player who could pitch immediately.

"That's why Philadelphia was so attractive," Wade said, "because in J.A. they were presenting us with an opportunity to do that."

The process was complicated. Oswalt had a no-trade clause and, according to Wade, was pushing for a deal to either St. Louis or Texas. Both teams were heavily involved, along with the Dodgers. By the week leading up to the trade deadline, Wade and Phils GM Ruben Amaro Jr. had agreed on the basic structure of a deal. Still, they had to persuade Oswalt, who was owed roughly $22 million through 2011 and wanted his $16 million option for 2012 exercised, to accept a deal. The two sides finally agreed to increase the buyout on his 2012 club option from $1 million to $2 million.

"There was a time when he wouldn't go to Philadelphia," Wade said of Oswalt. "I don't think he was Philadelphia-averse, but he had preferences, and we just made it clear that we weren't going to make a deal just to accommodate him."

By the afternoon of July 29, Happ was hearing reports that a deal was done. The Phillies were sending him, outfield prospect Anthony Gose and minor league infielder Jonathan Villar to Houston for Oswalt and $11 million. As he left his apartment overlooking the Delaware River and merged onto I-95, he tried to come to grips that he would never make the trip again.

"Every day I would drive past the stadium on the highway and I'd look at it and I'd say to myself, 'That's where I work,' " Happ said. " 'That's where I get to work.' "

He continued to work right up to the last moment. When manager Charlie Manuel sent Rich Dubee to summon Happ for the fateful meeting that afternoon, the pitching coach found him on the field, running wind sprints in preparation for a scheduled start the following day.

Happ made a start the next day, but he made it in Houston, where he pitched six scoreless innings after flying in that morning.

He says he is at peace now, that he enjoys the freedom of pitching today without worrying about tomorrow. For the first spring training of his life, he is more focused on refining aspects of his game than he is on winning a job.

"I never want to be comfortable," Happ said. "But it's a comforting feeling."

Arnsberg, currently in his second season as pitching coach in Houston, was in the same position in Toronto when Happ shut out the Blue Jays during his marvelous rookie season in 2009. The day of the trade, Arnsberg received a glowing phone call from an old Toronto friend.

"You're going to love this guy," Roy Halladay told him.

Which is why Arnsberg did not need to hear the words Happ spoke to him after that ugly night in St. Louis. And sure enough, the new guy bounced back, posting a 3.18 ERA in his final 11 starts while living out of a hotel room in downtown Houston.

In late August, 5 days after picking up a win against his former team at Citizens Bank Park, Happ made his biggest statement. In nine sparkling innings, he held an old foe to two hits and one walk, recording a shutout in front of his new fans.

The final score: Houston 3, St. Louis 0.

Nobody in the coaches' office was surprised.

"The only thing he showed me that night," Arnsberg said, "was the kid we went out and got."

For more Phillies coverage and opinion, read David Murphy's blog, High Cheese, at www.philly.com/HighCheese.

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