Roy Oswalt

THE PHILLIES not only landed one of the best pitchers in baseball, they also got a player who is so country he makes Kevin Kolb look like a metrosexual. Roy Oswalt married his high school sweetheart, comes from a Mississippi town of about 500 and once used a spark plug to cure a shoulder injury. Here are some other things - a few that are actually relevant to the Phillies' chances this year - to know about the latest star pitcher acquired by Ruben Amaro: 1. Has an ugly 6-12 record this season, but the Astros have scored just 17 runs in his 12 losses.

Roy Oswalt signed with the Texas Rangers on Monday, according to the Dallas Morning News. The report said the former Phillies and Astros righthander got a prorated $8 million deal, which would put $4 million in his pocket if he is called up by July 1. He can also earn an extra $1 million if he makes 10 starts. ESPN.com said the Phillies, Cardinals and Dodgers all made offers - some exceeding that of the Rangers - but Oswalt preferred Texas, where he has a close relationship with club president Nolan Ryan.

This is not the first time Roy Oswalt has been part of a star-studded starting rotation. For three years - 2004 to 2006 - he was part of a Houston Astros trio that included Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte. To this day, those two still influence Oswalt's pitching preparation. "Roger and Andy actually had a lot to do with what my workouts are like now," Oswalt said "They had a Navy Seal workout that they did, and that's what I try to do in the offseason to get in shape. " It makes sense that Oswalt would follow the intense workouts he started while teammates with Clemens and Pettitte.

That wasn't a pitching rubber beneath Roy Oswalt's feet. That was a high wire. It was a night of living dangerously for the Phillies' starting pitcher in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series. The righthander seemed to teeter on the edge of disaster in nearly every inning, but he never lost his balance. Oswalt worked six innings. He allowed two runs, one earned, on nine hits with no walks and five strikeouts. It wasn't a dominating performance like Oswalt's work in Game 2, when he pitched eight innings and allowed just three hits with nine strikeouts.

It's difficult to talk to the Houston Astros without hearing the same thing, whether it's from pitchers, hitters or manager Phil Garner. They all talk about how this team grinds out wins, such as last night's 2-1 victory over the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. The Astros continue to live on the edge, and the players say they wouldn't want it any other way. Roy Oswalt is 17-11 after pitching eight innings of one-run ball last night to gain the win. It marked the 10th time this season he had pitched in a game in which his team scored two runs or fewer.

St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols hit the ball so hard Monday at Minute Maid Park in Houston that some joked that it still hadn't landed. It might not have if the retractable roof had been open. "We actually told [Brad Lidge] that we almost got hit by the ball after [our flight] took off," Houston Astros righthander Roy Oswalt joked yesterday at Busch Stadium. There's no question that Pujols' dramatic and monstrous three-run homer in the top of the ninth inning in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series left Houston a little bewildered.

1. Cliff Lee                2. Roy Oswalt

Tonight at 8:05 LHP Jamie Moyer (7-5, 4.15 ERA) vs. Houston RHP Woody Williams (3-10, 5.58). Tomorrow at 8:05 p.m. RHP Adam Eaton (7-5, 5.75) vs. Houston RHP Roy Oswalt (7-5, 3.42). Wednesday at 2:05 p.m. LHP Cole Hamels (9-4, 3.87) vs. Houston RHP Chris Sampson (6-5, 4.15).

Righty Roy Oswalt, who once was part of the Phillies' vaunted Four Aces combo, has agreed to a minor-league deal with the Rockies, the team said Thursday. Oswalt will have an extended spring training before joining the big club. The 35-year-old is 4-0 with a 2.25 ERA at Coors Field. "Always loved the mountains, im back!" tweeted the three-time all-star, who made nine starts last year for the Rangers.   Pitchers, umpire fined   Remember that little dustup between umpire Tom Hallion and Tampa Bay pitchers David Price, Jeremy Hellickson, and Matt Moore last weekend?

Charlie Manuel offered a history lesson Tuesday afternoon. He was talking about Roy Halladay, once a Phillies ace but now unrecognizable, and brought up Brad Lidge's name. The former Phillies closer is the quintessential example of Manuel's loyalty. Lidge blew 11 saves in 2009, pitched to a 7.21 ERA, but remained the closer as the Phillies won the pennant. "I looked down there and, to me, Brad Lidge was probably still the best I had," Manuel said. "If I was going to lose the game, it was going to be with Brad Lidge.

The Phillies went into the season two years ago with four aces and a sense that something special was about to happen. And they were right. The special wasn't quite as special as they had hoped, and they had no idea that Vance Worley, not Roy Oswalt, would be the fourth ace. Worley didn't even get to pose as one of the five aces when it was inexplicably decided that Joe Blanton should be the ace of something, too. Two years later, the...

FORT MYERS, Fla. - It was the kind of day that is known to occur once or twice this time of year. The flags in centerfield were pointing out of the ballpark and the temperature was struggling to stay in the 50s and the guys on the mound were no longer pitching like they were ahead of the hitters. Up and down the Gulf Coast of Florida, long fly balls screamed out of stadiums like tracers on an overcast sky. Back in Clearwater, Domonic Brown and Ryan Howard both launched pitches into the heart of the jet stream, the latter's home run looking for an instant like it might drop a surprise on the hood of one of the unwitting blue hairs who were matriculating their vehicles up the highway that runs behind the rightfield wall.

The Chicago Cubs and shortstop Starlin Castro have agreed to a seven-year contract with a club option for 2020. The 22-year-old Castro is a two-time all-star and in just his second full major-league season. He led the National League in hits with 207 last season. Since making his major-league debut on May 7, 2010, Castro has more hits than any player in the NL with 486. Castro, a career .296 hitter, was batting .276 this season with 12 homers and 63 RBIs before Tuesday night's game against Milwaukee.

Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington says he's put behind him Roy Oswalt's decision not to pitch a third inning of relief and sees no need to discuss it with the former starter. Oswalt told Washington after throwing 30 pitches in the seventh and eighth innings Sunday that he couldn't continue. The Rangers lost, 7-6, in 10 innings at Kansas City. "Since I've been here [if] a player tells me he can't go, that's it," Washington said before Monday night's game against the Red Sox in Boston.

Roy Oswalt left his first start for the Texas Rangers in a huff Friday night, even though an adoring crowd in Arlington was giving him an ovation. He wasn't angry that he was removed with two outs in the seventh inning - he was furious about having Colorado's Marco Scutaro down 0-2 in the count and gave up a single. "I was mad because I threw an 0-2 pitch down the middle," Oswalt said after the 4-1 Texas win. "I hate giving up 0-2 hits. But I always pound the strike zone.

Roy Oswalt signed with the Texas Rangers on Monday, according to the Dallas Morning News. The report said the former Phillies and Astros righthander got a prorated $8 million deal, which would put $4 million in his pocket if he is called up by July 1. He can also earn an extra $1 million if he makes 10 starts. ESPN.com said the Phillies, Cardinals and Dodgers all made offers - some exceeding that of the Rangers - but Oswalt preferred Texas, where he has a close relationship with club president Nolan Ryan.

NEW YORK - Cole Hamels is good. Damn good. But he is not good enough to rewrite the laws that govern our universe, which means there will be days like Monday, when a couple of unfortunately located pitches turned into a couple of two-run home runs that blemished an otherwise dominant afternoon. This matters because the Phillies entered the afternoon having won just five of the 25 games in which they allowed an opponent to score more than three runs, and because they finished it having increased that number to six, thanks to Ty Wigginton's go-ahead single in the seventh inning that helped propel them to an 8-4 victory over the Mets.