Know Your Enemy: April 20

Having missed yesterday's Know Your Enemy post, and the resulting barrage of triples that followed, it was tempting to skip today's Know Your Enemy, to see if there was a correlation betwixt the two events. Yet, it is our duty.

The Astros welcome the Dodgers to town, fresh off dropping two of three at Milwaukee, breaking what had been a six-game win streak. While LA is undefeated at home, they find themselves 4-3 on the road, 10-3 overall. The Astros snapped their four-game losing streak in high-octane fashion last night against the Nationals, and return home after a seven-game road trip in which they went 2-5.

On the mound for the Dodgers is 6'0" 190lb LHP Father Ted Lilly (so named because of his collar).

*Lilly was a 23rd Round draft pick in the 1996 draft by the Dodgers, but was traded to the Expos at the 1998 trade deadline. He was the PTBNL in the trade between the Expos and Yankees that sent Jake Westbrook to the Yankees for Hideki Irabu. He was traded once again in a three-team trade in 2002 with the Yankees, A's, and Tigers that sent Jeff Weaver to the Yankees, Carlos Pena and Jeremy Bonderman to the Tigers, and Ted Lilly and cash to the A's. He was traded in November 2003 to the Blue Jays for Bobby Kielty, and was traded again at the 2010 trade deadline to the Dodgers with Ryan Theriot for Blake DeWitt, Brett Wallach, and Kyle Smit.
*Ted Lilly gave up 60HR in 2010-11, with a career HR/9 rate of 1.3.
*In 15 career starts against the Astros, Lilly is 7-3 with a 2.64 ERA/1.07 WHIP, the second-lowest ERA of any team he has faced in his career.
*In 48 career games (45 starts) in March/April, Lilly is 16-18 with a 3.92 ERA/1.21 WHIP.
*Lilly will be making his 2nd start of the season tonight. In his first start, against San Diego on Sunday, Lilly threw 7IP, 2H/1R (0ER), $K:1BB, with 53 of his 79 pitches going for strikes. His 74 Game Score was the 11th 70+ Game Score for the Dodgers.
*Lilly has faced current Astros for 98PAs (Carlos Lee has 54PAs) for an overall .322/.392/.552 line. Chris Snyder has two career homers off of Lilly, while Carlos Lee, Chris Johnson, and Justin Maxwell have each tagged Lilly for a homer.

*Meanwhile, the Astros send J.A. Happ against the Dodgers. Happ is 1-0 with a 3.75 ERA/1.17 WHIP in two starts this season.
*Happ hasn't allowed the 1st batter in the lineup to reach base yet.
*Opponents are 4x13 with no extra-base hits off Happ w/RISP.
*It'll be interesting to see if Castro gets the start tonight, as Happ has a .239/.286/.391 line with Castro behind the plate so far this season. With Quintero in 2011, Happ had a .254/.347/.437 slash line-against.
*Happ has only faced the Dodgers twice in his career - once in 2011 (5IP, 3H/5R (1ER), 4K:2BB), and once in 2010 (5IP, 7H/1ER, 4K:1BB).
*That said, current Dodgers (pitchers included) have a career 1.198 OPS against Happ (43PAs), though nobody has more than 10PAs against him. Matt Kemp is 2x5 with 2BB, and Jerry Hairston/Juan Uribe have each taken him deep.