Finally the Astros get to play someone outside of the AL West. The Fightin' Franconas with his trusty sidekick Millsy head into Minute Maid Park for a three-game series. Tonight's first pitch is at 7:10pm Central and can be seen on HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
Cleveland is 5-9, and have lost four straight, scoring nine runs in that L4 streak. The Astros and Indians have played each other eighteen times, with Houston maintaining a 10-8 series lead. They played in inter-league play last season and the Astros actually won that series, 2-1.
Taking the mound for the Indians is...
*Our 6'4" 240lb 32-year old pal Brett Myers!
*He went to Englewood High School in Jacksonville, FL - same high school as Ryan Freel and Daniel Murphy - and was an amateur boxer (foreshadowing).
*Myers was drafted with the 12th overall pick in the 1999 draft by the Phillies, joining Eric Munson, Jason Jennings and Casey Daigle as 1999 1st Round picks to eventually play for the Astros.
*Myers was with the Phillies until January 2010 when Ed Wade made one of his best moves and signed him to a 1yr/$5m deal. In 2011 Ed Wade made one of his worst moves by giving him an extension.
*On June 23, 2006 Myers was arrested and charged with assault after witnesses saw him punching his wife. In a hearing, his wife said she didn't want him prosecuted and the case was dismissed.
*In 2007, Myers had the distinction of throwing the first and last pitches of the season for the Phillies. He began the year as the Opening Day starter, and because of injuries/general Phillies' bullpen sucking was moved into the closer role.
*On August 25, 2007 he called Philadelphia Inquirer's Sam Carchidi a retard.
*Myers was traded to the White Sox last July for Matt Heidenreich, Blair Walters, and Chris Devenski. Heidenreich is at Corpus, Walters and Devenski (who threw a 16K no-hitter for Lexington last September) are at Lancaster.
*Myers will be making his 4th start of the season tonight, and in 16.1IP he has allowed 24H/16ER, 8K:3BB, and 8HR. Regard:
April 4 @ Toronto: 5IP, 7H/7ER, 0K:2BB, 4HR
April 9 v New York: 5.1IP, 11H/7ER, 4K:0BB, 3HR
April 14 v Chicago: 6IP, 6H/2ER, 4K:1BB, 1HR
*In 75PAs this season, Myers has been ahead in the count for 14 of them. When the batter gets ahead (30PAs), they have a 1.756 OPS.
*He has only faced three current Astros - Carlos Pena (.626 OPS in 23 PAs), Ronny Cedeno (.205 OPS in 15 PAs) and Rick Ankiel (1.286 OPS in 7 PAs.)
Myers is also responsible for a very funny prank on Kyle Kendrick:
*Lucas Harrell pitches for the Astros. In his four starts, he has allowed 19H/10ER, 11K:8BB and 4HR. This is skewed by a terrible 4.1IP 7H/8ER, 2K:5BB in 4.1IP against Oakland (of course Oakland).
*In his last start at Los Angeles (the Veras Blown Save game), he held the Angels to 6H/1ER, 5K:1BB in 5.2IP.
*We're talking about 31 total PAs, but current Indians are hitting .154/.258/.154 against Harrell.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
