NL DIVISION SERIES: ASTROS v BRAVES

October 6, 2004

Roy Oswalt

ROY OSWALT: With me or with him?

I think it was with my curveball. Had a little more hump in it. As far as throwing it, had a little more elevation on it than it did in years past. We looked at some tapes from 2001, 2002 together, and I had a lot more straighter line on the curveball back then than I did at the beginning of this year. So he saw that in probably the fourth or fifth game of the season, and we went back and looked at some tapes together and figured it out.

ROY OSWALT: For the last month, Roger and I, we've been approaching every game as a postseason game just because they were depending on us to put up innings for the team, as far as going deep into games. We've been trying to do it every game. It's no different from the regular season. We had to get here first. Since we got here, you only got five games to prove you're the better team. So every start counts, and you can't really be out there, I guess, making too many mistakes, I guess.

ROY OSWALT: Probably preparation before the game. He goes over hitters a lot and watches film. He watches what he did against them the time before he pitched against him. He has a plan when he gets out there. I always had a plan how I was going to pitch guys before I went out there but I never really watched film on how guys were taking pitches, react to different breaking balls. This year I got to sit down with him, watch him before a game. After the All-Star break it helped out a lot.

ROY OSWALT: We'll talk about it, for sure, after the game. During the game I usually go up and watch three or four innings during the game while he's pitching. Certain hitters that I tend to have problems with, I always go watch and see how he sets up those guys different from the way I try to do it. So I'm sure we'll talk about it tomorrow before the game. Probably won't go over too much film, but as far as throwing pitches and different locations, we'll for sure talk about that.

ROY OSWALT: I think the fans have helped us out a lot this year. They cheered us through the season. They've been coming out, they know what's on the line. They've been coming out and they know what's at stake. They've been helping us a lot this year. I think the biggest thing, we got comfortable at home finally. The first two years the field was built, everyone was scared to pitch there. So I think the last two years, we've been more comfortable. And this year, coming back home, we know we'll have 40,000 people there to watch it, it's been exciting the whole year, especially last month.

ROY OSWALT: I think the biggest thing is mental, believing that you belong here, watching Major Leagues at home so long, watching these guys play. Just mental-wise, believing that you belong up here and being able to pitch at this level and knowing this is the top level there is, there's no level above this. So with Ben, it's just a matter of time before he was going to put up the numbers he put up this year. I got to see him pitch in the Olympics. I knew he had the stuff to pitch there, no doubt. I think this year he put it together for us. He wasn't trying to go out and win every ball game, he was just trying to go out and get outs. That's the biggest thing. When you're with a club that's not the best in that division, you try to go out there and do too much, when you're a young guy, you try to throw a no-hitter every time you go out instead of just go out there and get outs.

ROY OSWALT: It would be great for us, for sure, with a guy like that, Hall of Fame status, and the way he pitched this year, picking up bulk of a load. He's probably carried us the whole year, especially with the two guys we had slated to go, with Andy (Pettitte) and Wade (Miller), for him to come back and pick up the load like that, it's great for us for sure because last year it was only Wade and I, and we had to carry most of the team. Wade did a good job last year when I was down a few times. But with Robby coming back this year and throwing the way he's throwing, I mean, you can't ask for no more.