H - H - 2 - O.

It was one year ago that the Phillies brought over left hander Cliff Lee to help them win the NL East, the NL Pennant, and get them back to their second World Series run and as we all know the Phillies got rid of Lee who is now with the first place Texas Rangers. Well now the Phillies have a new face in town that general manager Ruben Amaro, Jr liked best and that is Houston Astros right handed pitcher Roy Oswalt. Oswalt agreed to waive his no-trade clause and the Phillies gave up left hander J.A. Happ and two of their young prospects, outfielder Anthony Gose and shortstop Jonathan Villar. However the Phillies did get $11 million dollars along with Oswalt, that will help pay for his $16 million dollar option in 2011.

So Oswalt comes over to a team that is indeed one of the best teams in the National League but the Phillies weren't the option he wanted. Oswalt asked to be traded to the St. Louis Cardinals but the Cards weren't going to give up some of their young prospects to get Oswalt, so there for the Phillies got him. Oswalt’s options weren't really that good after the Cardinals turned him down, it was either stay in Houston with a team that was going nowhere or come to Philadelphia and try to help this team win their 4th straight Division Title, their 3rd straight National League Pennant, and get them to their 3rd straight World Series. Now the good and bad thing about Oswalt is that he has pitched in the postseason in 2004 and 2005 and went to the World Series in 2005 and knows what that feeling is like. The bad part is that over the past few years Oswalt is known to have some back issues but as of this season he has been healthy and we hope he is the man for the job. Now Oswalt’s record is 6-12 with an ERA of 3.42 but remember he played with a team that did not support him with a lot of runs and the way the Phils bats are coming alive this could be the team that fits him best. Oswalt will be in a pretty good pitching rotation with Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels, Kyle Kendrick and Joe Blanton. Now if Kendrick and Blanton can really step up their game the Phillies might have the best pitching rotation in the NL considering St. Louis has a great one, two, three punch with Carpenter, Wainwright, and Garcia, then there's the Giants who have a great one, two, three punch with Lincecum, Cain, Zito, and you can even throw Jonathan Sanchez in there as a good 4th starter for the Giants. Now how good will Oswalt be for the Phillies, well I don't know yet but if I had to guess I would have to say it looks pretty good and the Phillies are only 3 games back of the Brave and maybe bringing in another good pitcher might help them get back in first place and get to the postseason as once again division winners.

So the Phillies new pitching rotation now looks like this, Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels, Roy Oswalt, Kyle Kendrick, and Joe Blanton. Roy Oswalt will make his Phillies day view tomorrow against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park. Oswalt will be pitching against Craig Stammen who has an ERA of 5.50, with 2 wins, 4 losses, and 49 strikeouts. The big match comes your way at 7:05 p.m. So the Phillies get their man and make themselves a little bit better with Halladay over to Hamels over to Oswalt to still be "The Team to Beat in the NL East".

For Beyond Baseball,
I'm Seth Lempert Goodnight Everyone.