The matchup of close friends Jake Peavy and Roy Oswalt actually came down to Peavy the hitter vs. Oswalt the pitcher. Peavy drove home the Padres' first two runs of 2008 with a second-inning sacrifice fly and a fourth-inning single.
KEY FACTOR
His postseason numbers might be bad, but the pressure of pitching on Opening Day doesn't seem to bother Peavy. Peavy is 3-0 on Opening Day over the past three years with a 0.45 ERA – one run in 20 innings.
PLAYERS OF THE GAME
Offense: Josh Bard went the opposite way in both of his first two at-bats, getting a double and a single en route to scoring the Padres' first two runs of the season.
Pitching: No contest. Starting with a pair of popups (by Carlos Lee and Miguel Tejada) to erase a two-on, one-out threat in the first, Peavy retired 20 of the last 24 Astros he faced. No Astro advanced past second in seven innings of three-hit work.
Defense: Houston's Michael Bourn raced deep into right center in the sixth to make a running, over-the-shoulder catch of Adrian Gonzalez's two-out, bases-loaded drive.
BEYOND THE BOXSCORE
Since he came to America from Japan in 2005, Tadahito Iguchi has become accustomed to hearing his first name shortened to Tad. That doesn't mean he likes it. “I prefer to be called Tadahito,” the second baseman said through interpreter David Yamamoto during spring training. “Tad has no meaning in Japan. It's not something I would ever be called.”
WHO'S HOT
Tadahito Iguchi: Went 3-for-5 with two doubles in his Padres debut.
Paul McAnulty: Two hits equals a fourth of his 2007 total. And he reached base three times in four plate appearances.
Tony Clark: Got RBI, pinch-hit single on the first pitch he saw as a Padre.
WHO'S NOT
Roy Oswalt: Allowed only 9.38 hits per nine innings last season. Last night he gave up 11 in 5 1/3 innings.
Miguel Tejada: Down 4-0 in the ninth, he was thrown out at second by Scott Hairston trying to stretch a lead-off single into a double.
Astros hitters: 0-for-7 with a runner in scoring position.
– BILL CENTER
