Roy Oswalt Returning To Phillies Rotation On Tuesday

Oswalt has been out since April 26, first to be with his family after the devastating tornadoes in Mississippi, followed by a DL stint due to a recurrence of back problems that have bothered him for the past couple of seasons.

The good news is that Roy Oswalt made his rehab start with Class A Clearwater Thursday night, and struck out five Palm Beach Cardinals. That’s about the only good news, though. About Oswalt, anyway. Matt Gelb:

It’s too early to know when and where Oswalt will pitch next. The fact that he didn’t stick around after the game to talk about his outing isn’t a great sign, but maybe he just had dinner reservations at one of Clearwater’s many outstanding eateries. Or maybe he was busy plotting his revenge against whoever invented those #%$& radar guns.

The back injury is a little worrisome for Oswalt because he’s had back problems before, including a bulging disc in his back that caused him to lose feeling in his legs. Yikes. But considering the problems he’s had in the past, it’s pretty impressive that Oswalt has made at least 30 starts in every season since 2003. With the injury and the tornadoes, though, that streak could be in jeopardy.

Oswalt will throw a rehab game thursday. Hope is he’ll pitch tues in St Louis.So it looks like one more start for Kendrick, who pitched quite well in his spot start last week.

To review … In Roy Oswalt’s last start, on the 26th of April, he lasted only three innings and gave up five runs. Immediately afterward, Oswalt left the Phillies without comment and headed to Mississippi to be with his family in the wake of the devastating tornadoes in the south. He was expected to miss just one start, and the Phillies went to a four-man rotation, with rookie Vance Worley standing in for DL’d Joe Blanton and nobody taking Oswalt’s spot.

That’s obviously changed, with Kyle Kendrick stepping into the large breach. The Phillies are fortunate to have both Worley and Kendrick, both of whom are good enough to start for a lot of teams. They’re also fortunate to have an exceptionally talented roster, and probably can withstand the loss of Oswalt for a short time.

Roy Oswalt, currently helping with tornado clean-up at home in Mississippi, won’t return to the Phillies until Thursday, meaning he will miss his scheduled start against the Nationals on Tuesday. General manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said Oswalt would likely be able to start a game on Saturday or Sunday. The way things set up now, it will almost have to be Saturday, since everybody else will be on short rest at that point in time.

A year ago, the home of Oswalt’s parents was destroyed by a tornado, so one can understand his elevated concern.

As for Oswalt’s next scheduled start on Tuesday, the Phillies say they’re taking things day-by-day, but also that they expect Oswalt to be back in time to pitch. Of course, in the event that Oswalt needs a little more time, the team probably isn’t going to push it, given the sensitive circumstances.

Okay, maybe just a bit of speculation…

We should probably take everyone at their word. But Oswalt hasn’t thrown more than six innings in a game this season, and he’s topped 90 pitches just once. And Monday’s performance — three innings, zero strikeouts — suggests that maybe he was hurting last night. Or was distracted.

Speculation at this point about “personal reasons” is obviously pointless.