Brandon Backe, RH Hayden Penn, RH
(6-3, 4.31) (0-0, 3.52)
CF W Taveras 2B B Roberts
LF C Burke 3B M Mora
2B C Biggio SS M Tejada
DH L Berkman RF S Sosa
3B M Ensberg 1B R Palmeiro
1B M Lamb DH J Gibbons
RF J Lane LF L Bigbie
SS A Everett C S Fasano
C H Quintero CF D Newhan
Alright, alright, alright. Those were a couple of horrible games for us. The last two series were just plain not good. Let's not sugarcoat: the Reds kicked our asses two games in a row, and the Pirates beat us pretty ugly those two games they won, too.
But, hey, no one else in the AL East is exactly tearing it up, either, and we've managed to hang on to a three-game lead over Boston. Houston comes to town for a three-game set, and they're starting to play some good ball right now. I, like most, think the Astros are a far better team than their crappy record. They didn't hit and they didn't win. But if they start hitting, and they're starting to, their pitching is good enough that they might make another run like they did last year.
So, no, this isn't an easy series, because despite the record Houston can play. Luckily we won't face Clemens or Oswalt, but we will see Andy Pettitte for the first time in a couple years tomorrow.
Game time is 7:05 on CSN and FSN Southwest.
A couple other things I wanted to talk about just because I don't want to make another entry:
It's nice that Chris Ray is coming up, but come on, FREE AARON RAKERS! John Parrish is down in Bowie for the move. Larry Bigbie will also return from the DL tonight (don't know that he'll start), which means Nivar is back in Ottawa where Nivar belongs.