Due to craziness at work, this Series Preview will be abbreviated for the time being….

The defending World Series champs make their first trip to Minute Maid this year, with a bit of a different look than last season when they doubled up on the Astros with a record of 10 wins and 5 losses. First of all, they no longer have a hole of poo……Mr. Lidgelighter has made the move to the AL and went from being second place to the Almighty down to a mere plebian. In fact, Mr. Pooh of the Hole is currently without a HR and has only 5 RBI……one month into the 2012 season. Let’s revel in this just a minute or two: Pujols’ .202 BA would rank him 14th on the Astros, just above Bud Norris. His OBP of .245 would secure the 13th spot in the Astros order, while his 5 RBI places him at 11th, just behind Downs. I don’t know about the rest of you, but there is just a little bit of glee that that infamous smirk has been bitch-slapped off his face. But I digress…..on to tonight’s game.

Friday, May 4, 7:05 p.m.
Lohse vs Harrell

Lohse had two strong outings against the Astros last year, allowing only 1 run on 10 hits in two starts (15 innings). Lee has faced him 77 times, with relative success, 5 HR and a .300 BA. No other Astro has more than 20 AB against Lohse. He became the NL’s second four game winner of the season in his last start, despite giving up a season high 3 runs in 6 innings, and raising his ERA to a whopping 1.62 for the young season. (sarc-meter working, Mr. Happy?)

Harrell is a relative unknown to the Cards lineup. He faced them in a relief outing last year, throwing a three up, three down inning. His last outing was nothing to write home about, allowing six runs (five earned), one walk and nine hits in six innings while striking out only one on Saturday.

Injuries

Schafer (back) is probable for this series, while Escalona, Cruz and Weiland continue to occupy the DL, along with Berkman, Carpenter and Linebrink. Beltran is doubtful for tonight.

Houston Astros (7-12) verses Cincinnati Reds (9-10)

Tammy Faye Baker Park (aka: Great American Ball Park)
Radio: HOU: KTRH 740, KLAT 1010 CIN: WLW 700
TV: HOU: FS-H, DirecTV-678, Dish441, DishHD-9581 CIN: FS-O

It is no surprise to anyone that the Houston Astros have been competitive this year and one thing more than anything else points to the reason why. Offense. This young team has managed to hit the ball well in every game this year, save one or two games when the opposing pitcher was of the premiere variety. Overall, one has to be pretty enthused about how these local nine have taken to swinging the sticks, with of course some questionable approaches at times in crucial run scoring opportunities. It comes with the territory of being young and foolish on either count.

Leading the way for the team is perhaps the unlikeliest of characters, the diminutive Jose “Piranha” Altuve. It is not like the young man has been given a prime spot in the order to do his good work, no, he’s pretty much just hit the ball when he has the opportunity. Now the team travels to Cincinnati and their joyful little ballpark that just invites a ton of offense. Should be interesting to watch, if of course you’re lucky not to live anywhere near the San Antonio Spurs or Texas Rangers broadcast. In which case, sorry about that.

Matchups:
Game one – Friday, April 27,2012 – 7:30pm
Wandy Rodriguez vs. Mike “I’m not Kelly” Leake
A quick glance at this game, it seems that coupled with the good offensive showing of the Astros coupled with the stellar pitching by Wandy mixed in with Mike Leake’s very shaky start of the season… well, you’d favor the Astros. Heavily.

Word of caution though, things rarely work as “facts” tell us they should, so don’t go betting the house or firstborn on a win. And if you do, don’t come here and complain that this preview was your source for making such a stupid bet in the first place!

Game two – Saturday, April 28, 2012 – 3:10pm
Lucas Harrell vs. Jose Cueto
Again, taking a quick gander at this matchup, one would have to heavily favor the Reds. Yes, because Cueto is a pretty darn good pitcher and Lucas Harrell is not. Not yet any way. But things can happen to make this a probable win for Houston, like the sun getting in the eye of an outfielder (day baseball… yay!) and a routine flyball out turning into a triple for Jordan Sheafer or something like that. In other words, Houston is going to need a little bit of luck in this one. That includes Harrell deciding that the bottom part of the strikezone is just as good as the upper half where he’s been living and dying (mostly dying) this season.

Game three – Sunday, April 29, 2012 – 12 noon
Bud Norris vs. Mat “Not Hungarian” Latos
Yay, more day baseball! This may turn out to be the most evenly matched game of the series. I know that neither Norris nor Latos has really shown the flash this season that made each rising young star pitchers in the NL. This may be the game when both decide to really battle, in which case, we will all benefit and enjoy a good game. Young pitchers are often in need of good defense behind them, so a nod goes in Cincy’s way based on the stellar infield they feature. But then again, there is still the piranha factor to consider and maybe Jose can jump on some Latos meat for a fine day at the plate.

UPDATE: Breaking news… this just in from the field desk in Waxahachie (that is as close as we could get to Oklahoma City). Jordan Lyles has been tabbed to start on Sunday in place of Bud Norris. He will be called up prior to the game and hopefully that will mean the end of the Abad Experience (please!). Lyles vs. Matos alters the game just a tad in favor of the Reds, however, there is still the issue of Latos scuffling a bit this season. Here is hoping he continues to struggle, thus making this game very winnable by Houston. In fact, I’ll go out on a limb and say Houston takes this game, once again, on some really good offense output by the lineup.

Things that may be of interest:

• Scott Rolen is playing like the old veteran he is. Meaning he’s not doing so well at the plate but can still surprise every once and awhile. Leave it to him to break out against the Astros though. Ugh!
• Kyle Weiland is now on the DL because of a hurt shoulder. That means Fernando Abad is back on the club. Lord knows what is worse, having Abad back on the team or Wesley Wright still holding down the left handed specialist role. Nice, imagine those two facing off with Joey Votto?
• Marwin Gonzales got to go home to be with his wife for the birth of their baby. Lance Berkman called and said it was the right thing to do. Brian Bixler is back up with the big club.

As always, catch all the action at the GAMEZONE, or as we like to call it, Mr. Happy’s home away from home!