A win is a win, right?

Sometimes it comes in the form of Wednesday night’s gem: an outstanding pitching dual duel between Houston star Roy Oswalt and Washington rookie Mike O’Conner.

O’Conner was great, allowing only a three hits over 6.0 innings and holding the Astros to one run on a Morgan Ensberg homer. Oswalt was even better, mowing down Nats for seven innings before finally allowing Damian Jackson to score on a balk that only Frank Robinson seemed to see. When nothing was called after a hesitation in Oswalt’s motion, Robinson paid a visit to umpire Larry Young behind home plate. Minutes later, Young motioned Jackson home and the game was tied. It was oddly similar to Robinson’s Jedi mind trick a year ago on Memorial Day. The Nats pounced on the Astro bullpen for four runs in the 8th to put the win away.

Sometimes the wins come a little differently, as in the wild game played yesterday afternoon at RFK. Due to injuries, Robinson was forced to put third-string catcher Matt LeCroy behind the plate, and he struggled mightily. The Astros stole seven bases – the most by any team in four years – and advanced two more bases on LeCroy errors. Things got so bad that LeCroy had to be replaced by emergency catcher Robert Fick in the middle of the 7th. Afterward, Robinson felt horrified to have forced LeCroy through the ordeal.