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The Scenario lives on.

Over the past three seasons--the last three crazy, wild, drink-too-much-beer, miss-your-bedtime Astro seasons--my favorite player has been Roy Oswalt, whose 90-pitch, two-hour shutouts have been, for the sheer pleasure of watching the game, the best part of being an Astro fan.

As a pitcher, Oswalt harkens back to the 1970s, the time when my love of the game first took hold (it lay dormant through most of the eighties--college, girls, and underachieving Yankees--was re-born in the fall of 1986, and has grown ever since). Oswalt's throwback status (give that man a technicolor jersey!) starts with Rick Miller's four axioms of pitching, honed as Earl Weaver's trusty lieutenant in Baltimore: work fast, throw strikes, keep the ball down, and for God's sake have faith in your fastball.

It is something, for someone raised in four-hour, American League East 12-10 softball games, to watch Oswalt work. Twice last season TFT and I went to Oswalt starts that lasted less than two hours and less than ninety pitches; it is something to go to a 7:05 start and be home in plenty of time for the ten o'clock news.

The second 1970s frisson is provided by Gator, by Louisiana Lightnin', by Rong Guidry, who was a lefthander, but one whose physical dimensions are almost identical to Oswalt's, and whose pitching, like Oswalt's, started with a fastball that seemed to come from parts unknown.

All this was on my mind today, driving around after my afternoon literature class, listening to Oswalt motor through the Pirates like, as has been said, they weren't even standing there. 3-0 lead in the fifth? It is to laugh. Even with some help from Qualls, this qualified as an Oswalt special.

Meanwhile, through seven, 9-1 Brewers. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas . . .

One game down.