Inside the Phillies: Facing his old team, Phillies' Oswalt got the job done

The third of the Phillies' Four Aces to take the mound was not greeted by a series of standing ovations the way Cliff Lee had been so tightly embraced the night before at Citizens Bank Park.

Instead, Roy Oswalt had to deal with the unexpected emotions of facing the team that employed him for the first 14 years of his professional career. The 33-year-old righthander said Saturday he did not think it would be that big of a deal going against the Houston Astros for the first time because so many of his former teammates are also former Astros.

Oswalt probably still felt that way late Sunday morning inside the spacious home clubhouse as he sat in front of his locker calmly reading a newspaper, seemingly oblivious to all around him.

When Oswalt stood on the mound, however, he realized this was not going to be quite the same as his previous 303 regular-season starts.

"I really didn't know what to expect when I got out there, and it was a little bit different being there for so long, and I still know some of the faces over there," Oswalt said in the matter-of-fact tone that is such a part of his personality. "When you're first facing some of the guys you played with, it's almost like spring training. That's the only time you face your own guys, and you kind of know some of their weaknesses and some of their strengths, and they kind of know you, too, because they've been playing behind you for a while."

Regardless, the result was the same: another victory at Citizens Bank Park and another victory in a Phillies uniform for Oswalt as the Phils beat the Astros, 7-3, and completed a three-game sweep of their season-opening series.

In 11 career starts at the Bank, Oswalt is 10-0 with a 2.17 ERA, and his record with the Phillies in his new home is 6-0 with a 1.91 ERA. None of the other Phillies aces can make such a claim.

Oswalt is 8-1 with a 1.75 ERA in his first 12 regular-season starts with the team. By comparison, Roy Halladay was 8-3 with a 2.03 ERA in his first 12 starts with the Phils and Lee was 7-4 with a 3.39 ERA.

In lieu of the same fan support as Lee, Oswalt happily accepted similar run support, including a three-run home run from Ryan Howard in the first inning, and even better defensive support from his teammates. Ben Francisco's fourth-inning catch-and-crash into the right-field wall saved a potential RBI double by Bill Hall and knocked the San Diego-St. Louis game off the out-of-town scoreboard.

"That was pretty exciting to watch," Howard said. "I don't think he heard me. I tried to scream out, 'Wall, wall.' He caught it and hit the wall at the same time, and it was so loud when he hit it because he hit it flush. It was a great, great catch."

Oswalt appreciated the offensive and defensive support. He does not need a long-term memory to recall what it's like to pitch well and have nothing to show for it.

"Last year, they gave me one run, and I couldn't hold it," Oswalt said.

That was in reference to the Houston portion of his 2010 season when he went 6-12 in 20 starts despite a 3.42 ERA, including a 3-5 record in eight games when he allowed two runs.

Oswalt started his first outing of this season with a mid-90s fastball that allowed him to strike out the side in the second inning and hold the Astros to a single run and three hits through five innings.

"It was kind of awkward and unusual going against him," Houston rightfielder Hunter Pence said. "He's one of the best pitchers in the game, and he has great stuff."

Pence was the Houston hitter who gave Oswalt the most trouble. He launched a 3-1 fastball from Oswalt for a home run in the fourth inning and picked up his third hit with a leadoff single in the sixth.

Oswalt later faced a second-and-third, one-out jam in the sixth and escaped by allowing just one run before being removed for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the inning. He became the third of the Four Aces to hold up his end of the deal, with Cole Hamels up next, Tuesday against the New York Mets.

"It's fun," Oswalt said. "The first two guys went out and threw unbelievable, and I didn't want to be the odd man out. It's going to push us all the way through the year. You don't want to be the guy that gives it up, and it pushes you. You know those guys will give you six or seven innings pretty much every time. You can't dictate wins, but you know those guys are going to give you a quality start most of the time."

And those quality starts turned into three straight wins to open the season.