SERIES PREVIEW
Dingers for Springer @ Holes for Poo
May 27-29, 2016
This one will be brief due to being busy this morning, getting the rest of today off, and starting my holiday weekend a little early. Suckers.
Friday, May 27 – 9:05pm CDT
Mike Fiers (3-2, 4.35) vs. Matt Shoemaker (2-5, 6.81)
Fiers deserved better than to take a loss in Saturday’s game against the Rangers after working seven innings and giving up only two runs. In two September starts against the Angels he had two quality starts and a 3.95 ERA.
Shoemaker’s 2016 impersonation of Dallas Keuchel doesn’t just include the beard. Dude has been wrecked multiple times this year, giving up six or more earned runs in three separate games. He has been better in the month of May, though, and most recently took a three-hit shutout of the Orioles into the 8th inning. He also struck out 12(!) batters, more than double his season high. Maybe the Astros’ K record against the O’s isn’t such a fluke. Houston beat Shoemaker once last May, bashing six runs on three homers in only three innings, and then got blanked by him in July.
Saturday, May 28 – 9:05pm CDT
Dallas Keuchel (2-6, 5.92) vs. Jered Weaver (4-3, 5.33)
Keuchel got his brains beaten in by the Rangers last Sunday. What else is new? He owned the Angels in four starts last year (3-1, 1.71) but does it matter? Who does Number Two work for? Who is your daddy and what does he do?
As has been the case for a couple of years, there are speed limits in Texas faster than any of Weaver’s pitches’ average velocities. He has a few nice starts under his belt but he’s not fooling everyone: this year the Turds and Brewers got eight and seven runs off him, respectively. He had varying levels of success against the Astros in 2015: an early quality start, followed by a complete game shutout in May, another quality start in September, and then allowed five runs in 5+ innings.
Sunday, May 29 – 2:35pm CDT
Doug Fister (4-3, 4.12) vs. Nick Tropeano (3-2, 2.86)
Fister fell one batter short of getting his seventh straight quality start of the year on Tuesday. He has not faced the Angels since 2013, but in fairly decent sample sizes the Angels lineup has just a .206/.252/.299 line against him.
Tropeano has just one game in which he has allowed more than three runs, a five-run outing against the Brewers early this month. He has also not been working terribly deep into games until just recently, having pitched through the 6th inning only in his last two starts. The Astros only saw him once last year, where he gave up two unearned runs in 4+ innings while throwing 97 pitches.