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Oswalt looks to celebrate birthday in style vs. Cardinals

Aug 29, 2007 - 2:40 PM St. Louis (64-64) at Houston (58-74) 8:05 pm EDT

HOUSTON (Ticker) -- In a otherwise dreary season for the Houston Astros, Roy Oswalt would like celebrate his 30th birthday in style and hand his new manager a gift - his first managerial win.

Oswalt will get a chance to do both when the Astros continue their three-game series with the surging St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday.

Oswalt (13-6, 3.33 ERA), who will be pitching on his birthday for the second straight season, is returning to the mound after missing a start due to a left oblique strain. In his previous outing, the three-time All-Star allowed two runs and five hits in 4 2/3 innings in a 3-2 win over the San Diego Padres on August 18.

The injury was unfortunate as it halted Oswalt's streak of five straight winning starts. His track record against the Cardinals is also solid, as he is 8-5 with a 3.07 ERA in 20 starts and one relief appearance against them.

A strong performance by the righthander would likely provide new interim manager Cecil Cooper with his first managerial win after taking over for Phil Garner, who was relieved of his duties on Monday.

St. Louis' Kip Wells (6-14, 5.41 ERA) will be asked to continue his recent success - outside of his last start - in which he has yielded three runs or less in five of his previous six starts.

The one exception was a tough outing on Friday against the Atlanta Braves in which he surrendered seven runs - five earned - and eight hits with five walks over four innings in a 7-2 loss.

If the righthander hopes to go toe-to-toe with Oswalt, he will likely need to pitch better than his 4-8 record and 5.34 ERA in 16 career starts against Houston.

St. Louis has won its last three games, including a 7-0 victory behind seven strong innings by Braden Looper on Tuesday.