Buoyed, perhaps, by the news that Roy Oswalt will return to the mound next Monday against the Brewers, Houston erupted Wednesday night with two offensive innings, in the first and in the ninth, that looked delightfully similar to each other. The Astros put four runs on the board against Kevin Brown in the opening inning and then did the same against the Dodger bullpen in the ninth to earn a well-played 8-2 victory that gave the club the series over LA and put Houston (73-66) back into first place in the NL Central. All of the Astros' damage in the first came with two out, and much of it in the last inning also came when two were away. I won't say that's a good sign because two-out hits, although necessary, are much more difficult to replicate than the mechanical habits of a good fielder or a good pitcher, but they are a sign of a team that's battling in every at-bat, even on every pitch, and that's a commendable thing.

I had written at the end of last night's column in reference to Brown, "If Houston gets to him at all, it'll be early, and we'll have to hope that those runs will be enough for Jeriome Robertson." I had also written that I wasn't optimistic that Houston could lay off the sinker and make Brown elevate the ball. I was right in making the first statement, but only because I was wrong to some degree in making the latter statement. The Astros did do a pretty good job of laying off the sinker in the first, and Brown himself helped by relying too much on a straight fastball. Craig Biggio struck out on the sinker to open the game, one of two such strikeouts he had in the game, and I got the impression from watching both strikeouts (but particularly the second one) that Biggio knew those pitches were coming, well down and outside, but was determined to swing at them anyway. By and large, however, the Astros stayed within themselves in the first inning, didn't try to do too much, and just went with the pitches they got. In that way, Houston started its remarkable two-out rally. Jeff Bagwell put a good opposite-field swing on a base hit to RF, and Jeff Kent moved him up with an infield hit to SS. Brown then, to my eyes, at least, clearly pitched around the lefty-batting Lance Berkman, walking him, and loading the bases for Richard Hidalgo. Hidalgo took a first-pitch fastball that left me screaming in agony--it was there, right there to be crushed, and he just let it go by. I told myself, "He'll never see that pitch again", but I was wrong. Hidalgo did see that pitch again, a fastball in a really dumb location by Brown, and he whacked it up the middle for two runs. Geoff Blum, batting sixth tonight, followed that up with an even bigger hit, a bullet just inside the 1B bag and down the line in RF, again, off a Brown mistake--a pitch that was meant to be a little more inside than it was. The double was good for two runs more, and the Astros had a lovely 4-0 lead.

Jeriome Robertson (13-7) was not, in my opinion, throwing all that well in the early innings of his 5.2 innings tonight. In fact, Dan Miceli was up and throwing as early as the fourth inning because the Dodgers were able to reach Robertson for some hits and Houston's lefty was not overly sharp with his control. But Robertson held his own, mostly because of his ability to field his position. Dave Roberts opened the bottom of the first with a drag bunt that Bagwell was able to field and upon which he made a flip to Robertson. Robertson somehow made the catch (a difficult one) and still had enough speed to tag Roberts before he reached the 1B bag. On most close calls, I will concede, when necessary, that the play could have gone either way, but on this one, un-uh. Roberts was out on both an excellent play by Robertson and a proper umpire's call at the bag. Robertson's energy, his passion, tonight, was evident all the way through. In the top of the second, he busted it down to 1B on a little bleeder he had hit out in front of the plate and forced a crummy throw from Paul LoDuca down to Fred McGriff at 1B. Maybe McGriff should have made the play anyway, I don't know; but what I do know--and what I liked--was that the Astros were forcing the action tonight. That aggressiveness didn't always pay off: Biggio was hit by a pitch and Jose Vizcaino sacrificed the runners up, but Bagwell's flyout to shallow RF turned into a double play when Shawn Green's throw home was right on the money to nail a tumbling Robertson, but the hustle was admirable, nonetheless, and it was the right tack to take with the Dodgers. As poor as LA is on offense, the opposition ought to force them to make plays on defense at every opportunity.

Yet, two things began to happen shortly after Robertson took his near-injury-causing flop at home: Los Angeles began to peck away at the lead and Brown, as one might easily figure, began finding command of his stuff. The Dodgers got on the board in the bottom of the second, as McGriff singled to RF and LoDuca doubled to RCF, with Hidalgo not being quite able to reach down on the move toward CF and catch the ball or cut it off. Adrian Beltre grounded back to Robertson, who made a nice snag of his ball to hold the runners, but Joulbert Cabrera singled to LF, scoring McGriff, and Cesar Izturis's fielder's choice grounder to 3B scored LoDuca. Brown, meanwhile, after giving up hits to Kent and Berkman to open the third, began the process, extended by his bullpen, of retiring 17 straight Astro hitters. Hidalgo flied to RF and Blum grounded into a 6-4-3 double play.

Robertson's overriding task, as I saw it, was to make those four first-inning runs stand up. It was my assumption Houston wasn't going to get any more runs than that. He was aided in that task by a spectacular, parallel-to-the-ground, diving catch by Berkman, who stretched out while moving toward the foul line in LF to snag Fred McGriff's sure double for the second out of the sixth. Thereafter, however, Jimy Williams made a move to the 'pen that pleased me not at all, calling upon Brad Lidge to finish the inning against LoDuca. The move ultimately worked, but I regarded it at the time and I regard it now as just another "I'm Jimy Williams and I gotta make a move to the 'pen, 'cause I'm Jimy Williams" tactical manuver. Lidge came nowhere close on LoDuca, walking him, which really set me off, because there was no overriding reason to pull Robertson, Lidge's control problems have cost the team some big runs of late, and this particular contest was still a two-run affair with the tying run now coming to the plate. I was all set to howl if LA seized upon the pitching change (indeed, I was almost certain that they were going to come back; "Williams is gonna mess this one up! " I said to myself), but Lidge got out of it by making Beltre fly out to RF. Lidge then proceeded to have a nice, normal, no-fuss, no-muss seventh--the first one of those he's had in a while. The point was made on the TV broadcast that Lidge said recently he feels fine, that he's not tired. Well, yeah, ok, I believe him. . .but I don't believe him. Pitching as much as he has, he has to be tired, and I still think he ought to be used as sparingly as possible this month, even if he insists he's ok to pitch. Pitchers have been known to fib in order to stay out there, and although that's laudable in some respects, it can be hurtful in others. I would hope that the Astros err on the side of caution in using Lidge particularly, but also Dotel, who pitched the eighth tonight, allowing only a walk. Dan Miceli and Rick White were obtained for bullpen depth and they should be used for that purpose. Although most of us think they won't get too many chances to close out games unless the offense explodes late, as it did Wednesday, I'd like to see either one in a mop-up role if Houston has a large enough lead in any given game, because every such appearance will give the Big Three some rest they'll be thankful for later in the month.

Paul Shuey retired the Astros in order in the eighth, but fell apart in the ninth. Berkman singled to LF; Hidalgo doubled to RCF; and Mitch Meluskey, hitting for Dotel, walked. It was a perfect opportunity to break the game wide open, and the Astros took advantage of it. Shuey walked pinch-hitter Orlando Merced, after which Jim Tracy replaced Shuey with Paul Quantrill. Morgan Ensberg, who had entered the game in a double switch when Lidge came in, anxiously went after Quantill's first pitch and missed it, popping up foul to 1B, but Craig Biggio beat out LA's attempt to turn two the 4-6-3 way when the ball took a tough hop at 2B, and that got another run home. With two out, Adam Everett, who does show signs of possibly being a better hitter in the future than he is now, banged a single to RCF, scoring pinch-runner Colin Porter and Biggio, too, who had earlier moved up on fielder's indifference, the hit harmonizing with the clutch hitting that the club had done almost three hours before.

There was both good and bad in watching Billy Wagner pitch the bottom of the ninth. The bad lay in the fact that he was out there at all with a six-run lead and no save opportunity. Even with Thursday's off day upcoming, and even taking into account the truth that he was already warmed up for what had started out to be a much closer ninth, I would have preferred to see somebody else close the game. It's not like Wagner will forget how to throw strikes with two full days off. (No latent reference is intended, by the way, to either Steve Blass or Rick Ankiel, whose well-known maladies give me the creeps just thinkin' about 'em.) On the other hand, the good was that Wagner was as sharp and businesslike as he usually is in any save situation, getting LoDuca to fly out to RF, striking out Beltre, giving up an infield hit at 2B to Cabrera (despite a spectacular throw from Kent), and striking out pinch-hitter Mike Kincaide to end it.

Next comes San Diego on Friday, with another kind of good news/bad news attachment to that series. The good news is that Ryan Klesko, lefty hitter extraordinaire against Houston, will not play. The bad news is that Ryan Klesko won't play. It might sound odd, but if a pitcher misses a start against Houston, I don't mind. But if a regular position player does, that's different. I don't like injuries, even when they happen on teams against which I'm rooting, but since Klesko's injury has happened, the Astros need to take advantage of it in as big a way as possible. I shall not predict a sweep, but the Astros need one, and although a sweep is unlikely, I shall be disappointed--now that Klesko is out--if they don't get it.