Major League Baseball

Oswalt returns after helping tornado relief effort

Published Apr. 28, 2010 12:47 a.m. ET

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Astros ace Roy Oswalt rejoined the team on Tuesday after spending several days with his parents in Mississippi helping them recover from tornado damage.

He plans to make his next start as scheduled on Thursday against Cincinnati. He doesn't think it will be difficult to focus on his job in the aftermath of the disaster.

``No, it won't,'' he said. ``I treat it like two different worlds anyway. When I go home that's one world and when I'm here it's another. So I'm back here now.''

Houston manager Brad Mills spoke with Oswalt upon his return and wasn't worried about his mindset for Thursday's game.

``I'm glad that he was able to go back and help,'' Mills said. ``Of course our thoughts and prayers are with his mom and dad and getting rebuilt.''

Oswalt's childhood home was destroyed by the tornado Saturday near Weir, Miss. His mother, Jean, stayed in a closet with her dog as the twister came through.

``After it passed she was standing in the open pretty much. Of the whole house there was nothing left but the closet,'' Oswalt said. ``The worst thing was when she got up and looked down the street, first thing that went through her mind was that everybody's dead around where she lived. Luckily right where we live everyone made it.''

Oswalt drove home on Saturday and worked with his parents to salvage what little they could from the debris. He said many of the homes in the neighborhood where he grew up were destroyed.

Oswalt's mother escaped with only her dog and a Bible, which she found at her feet once the storm had passed. A shoe rack fell on her head during the twister and she was shaken up, but otherwise OK physically. He was glad to be able to spend time with his mother who he said was ``beat up'' emotionally in the aftermath of the storm.

``The house had been there 40 years,'' he said. ``It was the only thing I've known. All the stuff that we collected over the last 32 years of my life was pretty much gone. We found some pictures and some of their clothes. But everything else was pretty much gone.''

His parents had a lot of memorabilia from his baseball career, much of which was destroyed. He said he found pieces of the trophy he won as most valuable player of the 2005 NLCS strewn about the woods near his house, but he was able to salvage a couple of jerseys from his first season.

``The biggest thing is that my mom's alive,'' he said. ``The other stuff you can replace, it's materialistic stuff.''

His father, Billy, was out of state on a hunting trip when the storm hit.

After a couple of days of cleaning up, they burned down the remnants of the house. Then Roy used the bulldozer Astros owner Drayton McLane gave him after Houston's trip to the World Series in 2005 to clear away the foundation and other debris.

His parents, who are staying in one of his homes nearby, plan to begin rebuild on the site.

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