Myers, Astros outplay Oswalt, sloppy Phillies

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HOUSTONThe Phillies suffered a 5-1 loss to the Houston Astros on Monday night.

We know what youre thinking:

How in the name of Braulio Castillo can the best team in the majors get beaten so soundly by the worst team in the majors?

Easy when you consider all this:

The Phillies played poor defense behind Roy Oswalt and that contributed to two runs in the fourth inning.

Oswalt hung an ugly 0-2 curveball and Carlos Lee swatted it for a two-run homer the next inning.

And Astros starter Brett Myers changed speeds nicely in pitching a beauty against his old team.

If you want to know the truth, we got outplayed, manager Charlie Manuel said. Thats the bottom line.

Manuels club is steaming toward its fifth straight NL East titlethe magic number is fiveand it has the best record in the majors at 94-50. But that doesnt mean he wants to see his team take its foot off the accelerator with 2 weeks to go in the regular season. He saw some of that Monday night.

I thought we played a sloppy game, Manuel said. That bothered me a lot.

Oswalt also made it clear that he thought his mates played shoddy defense.

I thought I made some pretty good pitches that we didnt make the plays on, he said. We looked sloppy the whole game. It wasnt a real fundamental game.

Raul Ibanez broke poorly on a liner to left in the fourth inning and second baseman Pete Orr and shortstop Jimmy Rollins collided behind the second base bag on a hit in the fourth inning. Make those plays and Oswalt gives up nothing there.

Manuel blamed Orr for colliding with Rollins on the ball that resulted in an RBI hit for Jimmy Paredes.

I think Orr has to catch that ball in front of Rollins, Manuel said. Then again, hes been trying to bump into someone for three days.

That was a clear reference to Orrs nearly running into a bratwurst during the sausage race in Milwaukee on Friday night.

Oswalt had no one to blame but himself for the two-run homer to Lee. He wanted to go down and away with an 0-2 curveball and left it high and over the plate.

Actually, Oswalt pinned part of the home run on the short left-field fence at Minute Maid Park. He said it would not have been out of many other parks, and he was probably right.

Defense and short porches aside, Oswalt was not at his best. He allowed 11 hits, walked two and struck out just two over seven innings. The performance will surely add fuel to the debate over who should fill the fourth spot in the Phils rotation come October, Oswalt or Vance Worley. Worley has his supporters. But he does have 4.41 ERA the last month.

Unless something unexpectedly changes, Manuel is still committed to Oswalt for the playoffs. The manager has made comments like, Thats why we brought him here, when talking about Oswalt and the playoffs. After Monday nights game, Manuel said, I still think the bigger the game, the better hell pitch. That seems like a sure indication that Oswalt will be in the playoff rotation. Worley is better suited to pitch out of the bullpen than Oswalt because Oswalt needs more time to get his back loose.

His stuff is there, Manuel said of Oswalt, who has three regular-season starts remaining. Our play got him in trouble and the breaking ball to Lee hurt him. But other than that I thought he did pretty good.

On paper, this figured to be a big game for Oswalt. It was his first start in Houston since being traded to the Phillies after 10 seasons with the Astros. However, with only a smattering of fans in the stands, there wasnt a whole lot a excitement in the park.

Myers managed to find motivation to shine, however.

This was his playoff game.

Thats what my dad told me, said the former Phillie, who allowed just one run over eight innings. I wasnt too juiced up because if you get too hyped youll make mistakes. But it feels good to beat them. I dont know if they want to stick it to me more than I want to stick it to them, buttheyre going to be in the playoffs and Im going to be sitting there watching them, so

Myers is 2-0 and with a 1.64 ERA in three career starts against the Phils.

E-mail Jim Salisbury at jsalisbury@comcastsportsnet.com.

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