 |
 |
| Aaron Harang |
Rogér Clemens |
| 3 - 2, 3.32 | 3 - 2, 1.19 |
With the Astros coming off their first road series win of the year, and still maintaining an acceptable home record (and offensive stats), an Astro fan can only hope that he is not committing an act of hubris in thinking that today's game is not only one that the Astros CAN win, it is one that the Astros SHOULD win.
The pitching matchup is a little more even than you might think. Harang, despite missing his last start due to illness, is coming off a rather nice 3-game stretch in which he's pitched 23-1/3 innings. With a 2- 0 record over those last three starts, and an excellent 2.31 ERA over that span, Harang finds himself indisputably hot.
Clemens, because 1) he never goes more than seven* and 2) he left his start at Wrigley May 24 after five with a sore groin, has only pitched 19.0 over his last three; the ERA of course remains stellar over that period at 1.42.
The Reds of course have the reputation as being an offensive powerhouse, and indeed, among regulars, only two Astros can surpass the Reds' worst in onbase plus slugging--that is, only Biggio at .885 and Ensberg at .912 outdo the Reds' eighth best, Larue at .690.
But I don't need to tell you that the Astros' road home splits are dramatic. So I made a little chart:
| CIN | Road OPS |
Position | Home OPS |
HOU | ||
| Larue | .715 | C1 | .630 | Ausmus | ||
| Valentin | .664 | C2 | .182 | Chavez | ||
| Casey | .818 | 1B | .878 | Lamb | ||
| Freel | .823 | 2B | 1.119 | Biggio | ||
| Lopez | .906 | SS | .747 | Everett | ||
| Randa | .785 | 3B | 1.097 | Ensberg | ||
| Peña | 1.039 | OF1 | .839 | Palmeiro | ||
| Dunn | .977 | OF2 | .829 | Berkman | ||
| Kearns | .884 | OF3 | .829 | Taveras | ||
| Griffey | .682 | OF4 | .748 | Lane | ||
| And for kicks, let's throw in the Pitchers: | ||||||
| Harang | .154 | P | .879 | Clemens | ||
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*OK, once.