Aubrey Huff was brought into the Astros clubhouse to look for a way to end the team’s offensive woes. It couldn’t be any clearer right after Gary Gaetti left for Sean Berry. Certainly, Huff didn’t disappoint in his debut.

The slugger went 2-for-4 driving in 3 runs, including a homer in the eighth that sealed a Houston victory over the Florida Marlins 5-1 at Dolphins Stadium.

The contest started as a pitching duel between Roy Oswalt and Dontrelle Willis. Oswalt was superb, granting 6 hits and a run in 6.1 frames; Willis put similar number in his stat line in his seven innings.

Regretfully for Oswalt (as Thomas pointed out in his blog), Chad Qualls had received the ball from Phil Garner in relieving duties when Huff went yard.

There are two factors that are undeniably clear here: the Astros seem to have done right in bringing Huff to the organization; and they can only hope a change of setting into a contending ball club helps him in producing constantly. And second, how important middle relief is for any team. Qualls did a good job while Randy Messenger imploded, thus setting the stage for the final score.