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Everyone else in the National League gets to play glamorous American League opposition this weekend - it's the Subway Series in New York, the Bay Bridge Series in San Franciso. We, however, get stuck with the Astros: no offense, but it's a bit like being forced to take your sister to the prom. I'm sure they feel exactly the same about us, but at least they'll get to enjoy playing in a park which doesn't have the south face of the Eiger in center-field.
It'll be a battle of cellar-dwellers, since the Astros occupy last place in the NL Central. Both their hitting (97 OPS+) and pitching (95 ERA+) have been a bit below average, but they just aren't scoring runs - 4.15 per game is 14th in the NL. Hunter Pence has been their offensive star, batting .329 in right, but Lance Berkman is having a down year by his standards - the career .300 player is hitting only .253, though his eleven homers still leads the team. We get to miss staff ace Wandy Rodriguez [2.82 ERA] and also won't face the Huge Manatee, who started for the Astros yesterday. We might see the return of Jose Valverde, however, who has been on the disabled list with a leg issue - Chris Sampson and LaTroy Hawkins have been splitting the save opportunities in his absence - and facing Roy Oswalt is rarely a walk in the park.
Dan Haren goes for Arizona, and we hope he has better luck than last time. I'm sure you all recall, that was the game where we had a 6-1 lead going into the ninth inning in San Diego, and eventually won it in the eighteenth, on Mark Reynolds' homer off Josh Wilson. Let's cut back on the drama and just give Haren the victory he deserved last time, shall we? Not sure how much I'll be about. We're off to Chandler Cinemas tonight for the Death of a Ghost Hunter screening, but I believe they have wifi there. :-) We'll see...
Lineup
- Felipe Lopez
- Gerardo Parra LF
- Justin Upton RF
- Stephen Drew SS
- Mark Reynolds 1B
- Chris Young CF
- Chris Snyder C
- Ryan Roberts 3B
- Dan Haren P