San Francisco @ Houston preview
Minute Maid Park
Last Meeting ( Jun 24, 2010 ) San Francisco 5, Houston 7
THE STORY: The San Francisco Giants are slipping further and further away from a National League playoff spot. Perhaps a favorable matchup against the lowly Houston Astros will help them get back on track. The Giants have dropped 11 of 17 games this month to fall out of first in the NL West. They are coming off a series at Atlanta in which they lost three of four to drop eight games out of the wild card lead. While the pitching remains stout, questions now loom over the back of the bullpen with closer Brian Wilson being handled carefully with inflammation in his right elbow. San Francisco will send Ryan Vogelsong to the mound on Friday when it opens a three-game set against the Astros at Minute Maid Park.
TV: 8:05 p.m. ET, CSBA (San Francisco), FSH (Houston)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Astros LH Wandy Rodriguez (8-9, 3.50 ERA) vs. Giants RH Ryan Vogelsong (10-2, 2.47 ERA).
Rodriguez is one of the few big-money players remaining on the Houston roster and has had a little trouble living up to his contract lately. The lefthander is just 2-5 in his last eight turns and has allowed four earned runs or more four times in that span. Rodriguez has started three times against the Giants in his career, going 1-2 with a 5.17 ERA.
Vogelsong continued his magical season with a strong performance last weekend. The 34-year-old yielded two runs and four hits in 7 2/3 innings to earn a win at Florida. Vogelsong has not lost on the road since 2005.
ABOUT THE ASTROS (40-84): At this point, Houston is concerning itself with very few things. The team would like to find out what it has in some of the younger players, and manager Brad Mills figures to fill out his lineup card with as many rookies as possible the rest of the way. Well on their way to the worst record at the end of the season, the Astros have probably already dispatched most of their scouts to various high school showcases in anticipation of the No. 1 overall pick in 2012. The draft is starting to produce at the major league level, with 2005 first-round pick Brian Bogusevic sparking a series win over the Chicago Cubs earlier this week. A former pitcher, Bogusevic is getting playing time as an outfielder and hit a walk-off grand slam on Tuesday and a bases-loaded double on Wednesday.
ABOUT THE GIANTS (67-58): The one thing going in the right direction for San Francisco right now is the schedule, which does not pair the Giants against another winning team for the rest of the month. After Houston, the Giants head home for 12 straight games. The final series of that homestand is a potential showdown with the Arizona Diamondbacks for the top of the NL West, though if San Francisco cannot find a way to string a few hits together before then the series could have far less significance. The Giants managed five hits against the Braves on Thursday, providing Tim Lincecum with no support in a 1-0 setback. Last in the NL in runs scored, San Francisco now has to fill the hole in the rotation left by an injury to Jonathan Sanchez as well as the closer spot for at least a few days.
FINAL PITCH: One of the more promising players to debut for the Astros this season, Jose Altuve, has hit safely in all but four of his 27 games since being recalled on July 20. The 21-year-old Venezuelan is batting .314 overall with 14 runs scored.