SERIES PREVIEW
Astros @ Rangers
June 6-9, 2016
A potent case of writer’s block will prevent me from being any more creative with this preview, but maybe that’s not absolutely necessary. After all, just a healthy dose of “fuck the Rangers” would be enough to pacify the locals.
No, today, I’ll simply be making a bold statement:
Whataburger Fancy Ketchup is not as good as Heinz ketchup.
Also:
The Astros will not lose another series to the Rangers this season.
Call it clarity, gas, what have you, but I felt a sense of calm in the aftermath of the last sweep. Maybe we’ve been in the eye of the hurricane these last two weeks and shit is about to go sideways again…
…or maybe not.
On paper, the pitching matchups in this series don’t look good.
On the field, fuck the Rangers.
Monday, June 6 – 7:05pm CDT
Mike Fiers (3-3, 4.84) vs. Colby Lewis (5-0, 3.09)
Despite giving up just two runs over seven innings, Fiers was on the receiving end of one of those 2-1 losses the Astros suffered at the hands of the Rangers in May. He’s coming off a very nice outing against the D’Backs: six innings, one run, 7 K’s.
Lewis shut down the Astros for seven innings a couple weeks ago, and his most recent game was another six-inning shutout affair against the Indians. In between, though, he got rocked by the Angels for six runs in five innings… and still got the win. Fuckers.
Tuesday, June 7 – 7:05pm CDT
Dallas Keuchel (3-7, 5.50) vs. Cole Hamels (5-1, 3.39)
We’d have to break out a microscope to look for positives in Keuchel’s starts against the Rangers this year. 22 hits and 13 runs in 12 innings is just plain awful.
Hamels has punked Houston twice this year, and last time had the benefit of what might as well have been a 47-run lead as he cruised for eight innings and racked up about 30 strikeouts. Since then the Pirates beat him up for six runs (five earned) in 4.2 innings, and he gave up three runs over seven innings in a loss to the Indians.
Wednesday, June 8 – 7:05pm CDT
Doug Fister (5-3, 3.51) vs. Yu Darvish (2-0, 3.38)
The Astros have won seven straight games that Fister has started. Cool story, bro.
Darvish came off the DL right after the Rangers’ last series with the Astros, and his starts have been good, if brief. The team has been careful with him to not throw too many pitches, resulting in games against the Pirates and Mariners with 5 and 5.2 IP, respectively, with no more than three runs allowed.
Thursday, June 9 – 1:05pm CDT
Collin McHugh (5-4, 4.97) vs. Martin Perez (4-4, 3.24)
If this matchup were Craigslist then McHugh and Perez would be posting on Missed Connections. Neither pitcher has pitched in the season series yet this year.
McHugh left Saturday’s game against the A’s in the 6th inning with the Astros ahead 5-4, before a blown save robbed him of a W. Although the Rangers didn’t have much trouble with McHugh in 2015 (4.43 ERA, .344 opposing average), McHugh was still 3-0 against them in four games.
Perez has won three straight starts thanks to some good pitching and healthy run support. Almost the opposite of McHugh, the Astros didn’t score many runs off Perez in 2015 (2.00 ERA in three starts), but they did hit him well (.324 opposing average) and he was only 1-2 against Houston.