Tuesday, June 03, 2008

The Astros come to town

The Astros have been kind of the Pirates doppelgangers to this early point of the 2008 season. Both teams are overperforming, both teams have great offenses, and both teams have abysmal pitching staffs. Tonight Wandy Rodriguez and Phil Dumatrait, both pleasant surprises for their teams, take the mound. Wandy got off to a great start this year, but suffered a groin injury and was very bad in his return from the DL against the Cardinals last week. Dumatrait's only allowed one earned run in his last two starts and his last time out against the Cubs he struck out nine hitters and held the Reds to two hits in seven innings. Of course, he's also only two starts away from his seven start debacle. I'd much rather see the guy that strikes out nine hitters than the one that walks seven take the mound tonight, but it's definitely been a bit of a crapshoot this year as to which Dumatrait shows up. Still, he's generally given us a chance to win when he's on the mound (we're 5-2 in his starts, I believe) and that's all you can really ask for from a pitcher.