Nationals @ Astros – An Infestation of Nats!

Minute Maid Park

Well well well, back to .500 again. A 3 game sweep of the Hothouse Brew Crew with a glimpse of what could be with the high-octane offense WadeSmith assembled has the Astro ~~Nation~~ ~~State~~ ~~County~~ ~~Metro-Area~~ couple of blocks around Minute Maid Park buzzing. Lets hope this isn’t just another fleeting glimpe of above-parism before we fall back in to Pirate-esque suckiness again.

Tuesday, May 6th, 7:05 – FSN (HD)

Wednesday, May 7th, 7:05 – FSN (HD)

Thursday, May 8th, 7:05 – FSN (HD)

Projected Matchups From Astros.com

Tuesday

Shawn Hill (0-0, 3.50) vs. Shawn Chacon (0-0, 3.32)

This matchup is borderline creepy. Basically, Shawn Hill is Shawn Chacon Lite so far this season. Neither has a recorded decision, both have been pretty solid, and both have only had one bad outing. Chacon’s came in his last start, giving up five runs in five innings against the D~~bags~~ backs. Chacon left with a lead, but the bullpen couldn’t hold it for him. Hill’s bad start came in his only road start/first start of the season, against the Marlins. He gave up four runs in five innings. He left on the hook, but the Nats scored two in the top of the ninth to tie it up before losing in the bottom of the ninth.

Shawn Hill has only seen a few current Astros: Mark Loretta (3-4), Kaz Matsui (2-3 with a triple), Cheito (1-6) and Michael Bourn (0-1).

Shawn Chacon has seen most of the National lineup: Paul Lo Duca (9-21)Dmitri Young (4-12, but on the DL), and Aaron Boone (4-12) have all had some success against him. Ronnie Belliard (2-7), Felipe Lopez (1-7), Ryan Zimmerman (1-7), Austin Kearns (0-4), and a whole slew of (1-2)s and (0-1)s.

Wednesday

Odalis Perez (0-3, 3.18) vs. Roy Oswalt (3-3, 5.57)

Odalis Perez has been amazingly solid so far this season, and has a big, fat 0 and 3 record to show for it. He has only given up more than 2 runs one time all season, and it was his first start of the year, at the Jakeville. His first 3 starts were losses, including the one mentioned above, but his other two losses he gave up 2 runs in each, going 6 innings and 5.2 respectively.

Roy O was getting shelled in the early going, but has managed to somewhat right the ship since taking 3 consecutive losses in his first 3 starts. Since, he has gotten the “W” in 3 of his last 4. Roy’s curveball still hasn’t rounded in to form yet, but his location has been better, and he’s been using his other off-speed pitches to get outs. Once the big yacker starts consistantly falling for strikes again, look the hell out.

The Astros collectively haven’t done much against Odalis Perez. Lance Berkman (6-9, 1 homer), Officer Brad (3-6), and Ty Wigginton (4-11) have had some success, but Miggy (1-6), El Kabong (1-5), Mark Loretta (4-17), Darren Erstad (5-17) have scuffled some. Kaz Matsui (1-3) has the only homer other than Fat Elvis against him. In 96 total at bats, the Astros have only driven in 11 total runs. This one could be a low scoring affair.

Thursday

John Lannan (2-3, 3.74) vs. Brandon Backe (2-3, 4.42)

John Lannan, MBE (born John Winston Lannan; 9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980) was an English rock musician, singer, songwriter, artist, and peace activist who gained worldwide fame as one of the founders and members of The Beatles.

In his solo career, Lannan wrote and recorded songs such as “Give Peace a Chance” and “Imagine”. Lannan revealed his rebellious … What? Oh!
John Lannan strung together three straight quality starts from April 17 to April 27th, giving up one total run over 20 innings while scattering 12 hits. The wheels came off in his last start though, giving up six runs (five of them earned) over three innings against the Pirates.

Brandon Backe has been all over the place in the early going. Included in this are four starts with three or less runs allowed in five or more innings, one stinker (against the Phucking Phillies) with six runs allowed in three innings, and a five inning appearance giving up 4 earnies against the Jakes. One thing you can almost always count on is Backe giving up a homer. He’s allowed a round-tripper in every appearance except his five shutout innings against the Marlins in early April.

Lannan has very limited numbers against the Good Guys: El Kabong (1-3, with that hit being a 2 run dong), Mark Loretta (1-1), Pence!!! (1-2), Wigginton (0-2), and Twinkie (0-1 with a RBI) is it.

Brandon has owned the Nats so far in his career, with a collective .192 batting average against: Johnny Estrada (0-12) is a big reason why. Felipe Lopez (3-8), Nick Johnson (3-7), Kearns (0-6), Paul Lo Duca (2-5 with a homer), Rob Mackowiak (0-5), Willy Mo Pena (0-4), Ryan Zimmerman (0-2), and Cristian Guzman (0-3) are the most signifigant contributors to Brandon’s success.

Notable Giveaways this series…

Uncle Drayton, it appears, has tightened the purse-strings. The only notable giveaway this series is Mother’s Day Tote Bag. Now, I’m not saying that Texas has a teenage pregnancy problem, but apparently the only qualification to get one of these is that you’re female and 16 or older.

Injury Report

Washington – The Nats DL list is a lot more crowded than the Houston one. Chad Cordero (tear in the right latissimus dorsi muscle – I wasn’t aware he was a dolphin), Dmitri Young (sprained lower back), Elijah Dukes (sore hammy), Ryan Wagner (recovering from throwing shoulder surgery) all are out for at least the series. I couldn’t find much info on Wagner, except this blurb rom rotoworld, but it sounds like he isn’t progressing very well, and may have to play his way into a spot in the Nat bullpen.

Houston – With the return of Ty Wigginton from his broken thumb, only Wandy Rodriguez (strained groin) and Felipe Paulino (pinched nerve in his throwing arm) remain on the 15 day DL.

Our Things to Look For –

Well, I don’t know weather to be excited or annoyed that we’re missing TIMMAH! I’m not sure what the odds were that he’d pitch his ass off and stick it to the Astros, but witnessing one of his late inning meltdowns from the other side would’ve been awesome.

Second, FUCK YOU ESPN, you bunch of lazy fuckwads. Shawn Chacon has been an Astro for well over a month now, is it really THAT hard to get a picture of him with an Astro’s cap on? CBS has it. MLB.com has it. How ’bout y’all stop playing with yourselves and jacking off the Yankees and Red Sox for 5 minutes and actually update your player information for AMERICA’S FUCKING PASS TIME?!

If you haven’t checked it out yet, go read about some of the worst beers known to SnS in the World’s Worst Beer Thread. Sportz Beer. Jesus. I remember when I was just a lad of 18 years old, and drinking at the soon to be fraternity house (I was still a pledge). We pooled our money together and gave it to one of the friendly over 21 actives and asked him to pick us up as much beer as our 30 dollars would buy. We ended up with about 230 cases of Sportz Beer. Jesus, it was TERRIBLE. Thanks for the assist in dredging that memory up, guys.

And lastly, big ups to my old man for his recent From The Dugout contribution, The 27th Out. Not only is it well written, but its a good read too. Go check it out if you haven’t already.

You can discuss the games in the GAMEZONE, just make sure you bring your bug-spray.