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Aces square off as Sheets faces Oswalt

Sep 3, 2007 - 3:08 PM Houston (61-76) at Milwaukee (69-67) 2:05 pm EDT

MILWAUKEE (Ticker) -- The Milwaukee Brewers sorely missed Ben Sheets in August. But Sheets' return has brought hope for a far better final month of the season.

The Brewers' ace takes the mound as they opens a three-game set with the Houston Astros on Monday.

Sheets (11-4, 3.30 ERA) missed the end of July and all of August recovering from a sprained middle finger and blister problems. Without Sheets, the Brewers (69-67) suffered through a 9-18 August, and subsequently fell out of first place in the National League Central.

However, the righthander returned to the rotation on Wednesday and allowed just one run and six hits in six innings of a 6-1 win over the first-place Chicago Cubs.

Milwaukee swept Pittsburgh over the weekend and now trails Chicago (70-65) by 1 1/2 games. The St. Louis Cardinals (67-66) are closing in as well, trailing by just two games.

Sheets is 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA in two starts against Houston this season. On June 25, he allowed one run and five hits in six innings of a 6-1 win.

Houston counters with its ace, Roy Oswalt. Oswalt (14-6, 3.21) has been outstanding, going 6-0 with a 1.01 ERA in his last seven starts.

On Wednesday, the hard-throwing righthander allowed just four hits in seven scoreless innings of a 7-0 win over St. Louis.