LEE KOSTROSKI
Texas Rangers @ Houston Astros
PICK: Houston Astros
The Astros have not been a great home team but they also have not been swept at home all season. After back-to-back narrow losses Friday and Saturday including an extra-innings affair Houston should come out ready to play for Sunday’s finale in the opening Lone Star interleague series. Texas is a banged up team with Ian Kinsler, Michael Young, and Frank Francisco all unavailable for yesterday’s game and Josh Hamilton should be rested today. The Astros have played well on Sundays, winning 16 of the last 21 games to wrap up the week. Texas is just a .500 team on the road this season and having wrapped up the series last night the Rangers could letdown for this game, the sixth consecutive road game for Texas.
Brandon McCarthy has a winning record this season but he owns a 6.95 ERA in road games. McCarthy has allowed at least three runs in all but one of his eight starts this season and in road starts his WHIP is 1.91 while opponents are batting .320. Over his three most recent starts McCarthy has an ERA of 7.00 and he will be tough to trust against an Astros lineup that is actually hitting well in recent games. Houston is batting .304 over the last ten games and they have lost three one-run games in that span so they are close to putting together a much better record. The Texas bullpen has also been a big problem area this season outside of Francisco, as the Rangers feature an ERA of 4.85 among relievers.
Mike Hampton’s comeback attempt has not been an overwhelming success but he pitching respectably. He has 33 strikeouts in just 43 innings and in five of his eight starts he has allowed three runs or less.Over the last ten games the Rangers are hitting just .251 overall including just .233 against left-handed pitching despite having success against southpaws early in April. The Rangers are also hitting just .244 on the road this season. This is a critical game for Houston after dropping the first two of this series and the Astros are playing much better than the record indicates.
Texas Rangers @ Houston Astros
PICK: Houston Astros
The Astros have not been a great home team but they also have not been swept at home all season. After back-to-back narrow losses Friday and Saturday including an extra-innings affair Houston should come out ready to play for Sunday’s finale in the opening Lone Star interleague series. Texas is a banged up team with Ian Kinsler, Michael Young, and Frank Francisco all unavailable for yesterday’s game and Josh Hamilton should be rested today. The Astros have played well on Sundays, winning 16 of the last 21 games to wrap up the week. Texas is just a .500 team on the road this season and having wrapped up the series last night the Rangers could letdown for this game, the sixth consecutive road game for Texas.
Brandon McCarthy has a winning record this season but he owns a 6.95 ERA in road games. McCarthy has allowed at least three runs in all but one of his eight starts this season and in road starts his WHIP is 1.91 while opponents are batting .320. Over his three most recent starts McCarthy has an ERA of 7.00 and he will be tough to trust against an Astros lineup that is actually hitting well in recent games. Houston is batting .304 over the last ten games and they have lost three one-run games in that span so they are close to putting together a much better record. The Texas bullpen has also been a big problem area this season outside of Francisco, as the Rangers feature an ERA of 4.85 among relievers.
Mike Hampton’s comeback attempt has not been an overwhelming success but he pitching respectably. He has 33 strikeouts in just 43 innings and in five of his eight starts he has allowed three runs or less.Over the last ten games the Rangers are hitting just .251 overall including just .233 against left-handed pitching despite having success against southpaws early in April. The Rangers are also hitting just .244 on the road this season. This is a critical game for Houston after dropping the first two of this series and the Astros are playing much better than the record indicates.
