SERIES PREVIEW
Angels @ Astros
June 20-22, 2016
Things that have happened since the last series preview was posted:
- The fucking Rangers wasted no time in messing up my prediction that the Astros would not lose another series to them this year, and now they are running away with the goddamn league.
- The Astros are still in the thick of things for a postseason berth… along with eleven other teams.
- Will Harris’s ERA nearly doubled in one day. Nobody cared.
- Dallas Keuchel still looks like he needs to be turned off and back on.
- Viewers got an extended reprieve from Alan Ashby in the TV booth and the results were predictably enjoyable. Never in however many years of seeing Kevin Eschenfelder on TV have I ever thought that he should get a shot at the PBP job, but after his solid work in Arlington, hell, why not?
I honestly haven’t been able to see much of the Astros the last couple weeks. Having two small children and a stir crazy wife makes for some busy summer weekends, and a couple of projects at work have hampered my ability to write previews. Yes, kids, if you play your cards right, you can grow up to work at a job that doesn’t care if you spend two mornings a week writing about baseball on company time.
Not going to lie, either: the four-game series in Arlington took some wind out of my sails and, truly for the first time this year, caused me to temper my postseason expectations. The West still seemed winnable on June 6; now, not so much. At this point I’ll be happy with the team playing .500 ball at the break.
Monday, June 20 – 7:10pm CDT
Jhoulys Chacin (3-4, 5.00) vs. Doug Fister (7-3, 3.26)
Jhoulys Chacin breaks autocorrect more than Kim Kardashian breaks the Internet, and with less butt cleavage. Chacin was acquired from the Bad News Braves in early May but did not face the Astros when they traveled to Anaheim at the end of the month. In fact, Chacin tossed a complete game against the Tigers the day after the Astros series concluded, but he has struggled in the three starts since, unable to make it past the 6th inning. Aside from a good showing against a scrubtastic 2013 Astros team, Chacin has no sizeable experience against Houston.
None of the Astros pitchers in this series have faced the Angels yet this year. Fister is the first of those and continues to be pretty damn good, and rehashing that fact gets old after a while so I’ll try not to. He has not faced the Angels since 2013 but he has faced their hitters quite a bit: in 114 AB against Fister, Angels hitters are .219/.282/.325 with just eight extra base hits against him.
Tuesday, June 21 – 7:10pm CDT
Hector Santiago (4-4, 5.30) vs. Collin McHugh (5-5, 4.89)
Like with Chacin, Houston has not yet seen Santiago this year and now might be as good a time as any. After finishing April with a 3.34 ERA, he’s had a 6.86 ERA in nine starts since. He turned in six innings of one-run ball against the lowly Twins last week, so there’s that. Santiago gave Astro hitters fits last year with a 1.85 ERA and .143 opposing average in four starts.
Despite not factoring into the decision, McHugh held his own for the better part of 6.2 innings against Adam Wainwright and the Turds last week. In three starts against them in 2015 McHugh was 2-0 with a 3.98 ERA.
Wednesday, June 22 – 1:10pm CDT
Matt Shoemaker (3-7, 4.50) vs. Lance McCullers (3-2, 4.24)
Shoemaker has a big problem with run support: he has been routinely pitching deep into games, not giving up many runs, and still taking a loss or no-decision. He had a streak of five games where he pitched through the 7th or later, only allowing more than two runs once, and he went 1-2 over that stretch. That one win, by the way, was against the Astros in his longest outing of the season, leaving the game with one out in the 9th and a seven-run lead.
McCullers pitched 6.2 strong innings against the Reds on Friday and was let off the hook for a loss before the team eventually lost in extra innings. He did very well against the Angels last season, turning in a 2.52 ERA and 21 strikeouts in four starts.
