Matchup for G89 - Astros @ Dodgers

Pretty important series starts today, and you could make the case that this series holds the key to the rest of the season, as a bad four games would put the Astros below .500 and have them playing catchup with the rest of the NL Central. Milwaukee starts the second half at Cincinnati, the Cubs have the Nationals on the road, and the Cardinals have the D'a'ondbac's at home. A strong showing against a strong opponent can set the tone.

Improbably, the Astros took two of three from the Dodgers at home back in April. And expect Dodger Stadium to be alive tonight as Manny makes his triumphant return from suspension in his first game in front of his adoring, morally ambiguous soul-suckers of baseball.

Wandy Rodriguez
The Astros send Wandy to the mound to start it off, and it's a good choice. Wandy pitched against LA on 4/23 and went 6IP, 5H/1ER, 4K:2BB. 29 of his 67 strikes were of the non-contact variety. This, of course, was a game Wandy lost, because the Astros were shut-out, 2-0, at the hands of Chad Billingsley.

Last three starts:

Date-Opp	IP	H/ER	K:BB	GB/FB	Pit/Str
6/26 vDET	6	7/4	3:4	10/11	106/59
7/2 @SD	7	7/1	5:2	11/10	108/70
7/8 vPIT	9	5/0	11:1	10/9	125/85

Let's do the splits:
vs Righties: 85x327, .260/.326/.407, 81K:31BB
vs Lefties: 19x89, .213/.286/.326, 25K:9BB

When swinging at the first pitch (42): .381/.381/.524, 4XBH
After First-Pitch Strikes (235): .207/.250/.281, 70K:11BB
After First-Pitch Balls (187): .274/.387/.503, 36K:29BB

RISP: 26x94, .277/.333/.394, 25K:8BB
Runners on: 47x164, .287/.353/.378, 37K:16BB
2OwRISP: 13x48, .271/.352/.396, 15K:5BB

Randy Wolf

And the Dodgers will send Randy Like the Wolf (I swear that's the last Berman-esque thing I ever do) to the hill to face his old team. Wolf is who the Dodgers thought he was: an inning-eating, durable machine. Only twice in his last 13 starts has Wolf failed to get 18 outs, and he doesn't throw a lot of pitches, either - under 100 pitches in four of his last six starts.

Last three starts:

Date-Opp	IP	H/ER	K:BB	GB/FB	Pit/Str
6/29 vCOL	6	4/2	4:1	9/9	96/65
7/4 @SD	6	4/1	8:0	4/11	100/62
7/9 @NYM	6.1	7/2	3:2	10/13	118/79

Let's do the splits:
vs Righties: 92x339, .271/.324/.472, 47K:25BB
vs Lefties: 9x87, .103/.177/.149, 38K:8BB

When swinging at the first pitch (55): .340/.352/.528, 6XBH
After First-Pitch Strikes (245): .189/.236/.307, 56K:14BB
After First-Pitch Balls (168): .276/.359/.517, 29K:19BB

RISP: 19x84, .226/.302/.452, 15K:8BB
Runners on: 36x157, .229/.293/.439, 29K:13BB
2OwRISP: 6x36, .167/.250/.472, 8K:3BB