Recommendation: "That's the Chris Sampson we've been looking for," manager Cecil Cooper said. "He was in command throughout. He was really efficient early, pitching down in the strike zone, mixing his pitches in and out, using his changeup and throwing his two-seamer to get the ball to sink and run. That was vintage Sampson tonight." Cooper's sentiments aside, Sampson was facing a Dodger lineup that's been having difficulties scoring lately (they were shut down by Brian Moehler the previous night). We're going to need more evidence before we're convinced that Sampson has turned the corner.

Advice: Sampson was hopeful that this kind of outing could turn his season around. "I had a nice heart-to-heart talk with (Astros bench coach) Jackie Moore, because I played for him at Round Rock in ?06 and he saw me pitch a lot," said Sampson, who was 1-3 with a 7.96 ERA in his first six starts. "I asked him his thoughts on what was the difference between Round Rock and now, and that helped out tremendously?as well as figuring out what I was doing wrong mechanically."