Both pitchers in yesterday's trade start tonight for their respective new teams. For both it is the first time they will be in a uni not that of the team that drafted them.
Roy Oswalt faces the Nationals in Washington for the Phillies. For me, his debut is not quite like Lee's last July in San Francisco, especially as I will be at an IronPigs' game and not in D.C. But it is still pretty unreal.
J.A. Happ, meanwhile, will make his first start tonight for the Astros. Happ was fighting tears as he faced reporters yesterday. He has always seemed to be a thoughtful, intelligent, and highly competitive guy, who did everything that he was asked to do and was an integral part of both the 2008 and 2009 teams. I think, I hope, that he has the guts and guile to to make it work in Houston. What I shall miss the most is his oddly balletic grace, for one so tall, on the mound. Really, he was a treat to watch.
When asked yesterday about having to fly to Houston this morning and start this evening, Happ replied, "Baseball doesn't wait for anyone, and now I have to turn the page."
In other news, Jamie Moyer will not require surgery on his injured elbow. He will instead start a rehab program and is already talking about a return next season. I wish him well but sometimes it is all about the writing on the wall.
