• Wes Bloomquist •
• Originally published January 23, 2009 at 1:53 a.m., updated January 23, 2009 at 1:53 a.m.

Roy Oswalt and Hunter Pence enjoyed the offseason, but would savor ending a three-year Houston Astros postseason hiatus even more.

"I'm going to miss sitting around watching football on television in the offseason," said Pence before signing autographs at the Houston Astros Winter Caravan on Thursday. "But we're all excited about this season and getting started. The way we ended the season last year we gained a lot of confidence. We just want to continue the momentum we started, and carry it for an entire season."

Broadcaster Jim Deshaies and Houston assistant general manager Ricky Bennett joined Oswalt and Pence at Academy Sports and Outdoors after a stop in Corpus Christi earlier in the day. The Astros Winter Caravan drew fans from around the area, with the first in line arriving at 6:20 a.m. to get their spot.

The Astros are coming off an 86-75 record last season and missed out on the playoffs for the third consecutive season.

While Pence is excited to start the season, Owalt, an eight-year veteran, is going to miss the quiet of his offseason and his break from the pressures of Major League Baseball.

"When the season starts it feels like you're carrying a piano around most of the time," Oswalt said. "Every day is a grind whether you're out there pitching or not. The offseason is relaxing for us because we don't have to worry about pleasing four million people. But when spring training gets closer you start getting excited and ready to get back into it."

Oswalt, who is pitching for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, comes into the season with an opportunity to be become Houston's all-time winningiest pitcher. The Mississippi native has compiled a 129-64 record and is only 15 wins from tieing Joe Niekro's 144 win mark. He's also only nine wins from passing Larry Dierker for second place on the win's list.

"It would be a great accomplishment to achieve," Oswalt said. "You have pitchers who have pitched for over 10 years with Houston. You are talking about some big-time names who have pitched for the Astros, so it would be a big honor for me."

Pence is entering his third season with the Astros and brings in a .292 career batting average. The Arlington High graduate finished with 25 home runs and 160 hits last season, but experiencing the postseason for the first time remains the objective.

"My main goal is to get to the playoffs since I haven't been there yet," Pence said. "Ultimately, our goal is to make it to the World Series. We have a bunch of guys with solid character and a lot of baseball ability. The makeup of the team as a whole, we have the capability, we just have to go out there and get it done."

Oswalt has been to the to the playoffs three times, including making it to the World Series in the 2005 season. Oswalt is getting used to pitching to Humberto Quintero and to life without his friend Brad Ausmus behind the plate, but expects the Astros to contend for a title.

"I think we have a pretty decent team that can do some things this year," Oswalt said. "We made a good run at the end, so I think if we can get off to a good start we'll have a good chance of competing in the Central."

Ausmus signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday and set up a competition between the two former teammates.

"He told me a couple of weeks ago that he was thinking of signing with the Dodgers," said Oswalt of Ausmus signing with Los Angeles. "We've been going back and forth with each other. He keeps telling me he's going to get a hit off of me and I want to strike him out. I think it's a good thing for him."

The Astros open the season on April 6 against the Chicago Cubs at Minute Maid Park and will play the Dodgers for the first time on April 21 at home.

• Print
• •
• Share
  • Share this item

    Send this to a friend

    Share on FaceBook

  • Grab the link

    Copy and paste the link:

  • Blog about it

    Blog about this page.

  • Close
• •
• Post a Comment
• •
• Favorite
• •
• Report error
  • Thank you for your submission.
    Error report or correction

    Contact name (optional) Contact phone/e-mail (optional)  

    
  • Close
• •