Series Preview: Houston Astros vs. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, June 22-24, 2015

Series Preview: Houston Astros vs. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, June 22-24, 2015

You take the good, you take the bad. The facts of.... Yeah I'm pretty sure this new job at TCB is getting to my brain. But the Astros have been on a bit of roller coaster winning five-straight then dropping two of three in Seattle.

Now they face the Angels, who they are 4-3 against this season. The Angels currently sit 5.5 games back of the Astros at 35-35. The Angels are 5-5 in their last 10 games.

Mike Trout continues to do Mike Trout things. The Angels center fielder currently sits tied for sixth in wRC+ (169) across the entire league in 2015 -- he is only behind Miguel Cabrera in the American League (186). Let the MVP debate begin early.

The Astros counter with who at one time was batting under .200 on the season and now ranks 20th overall in wRC+ (146). In June is batting .407 with five home runs, 15 runs scored, 9 RBIs, and two stolen bases.

Carlos Correa has been everything you expected out of baseball's top prospect. He set a francise record with 17 hits through his first 13 career games. The previous record was set in 2007 by Josh Anderson -- 16 hits. Correa is hitting .304 (17x56) with 2 walks, 4 doubles, 3 home runs, 7 runs scored and 7 RBI during his first 13 games.

Pitching

Game 1 - LHP Brett Oberholtzer (2-1, 2.73 ERA, 1.44 WHIP) vs. LHP Hector Santiago (4-4, 2.77 ERA, 1.22 WHIP)
Game 2 -  RHP Collin McHugh (7-3, 5.04 ERA, 1.34 WHIP) vs. LHP C.J. Wilson (5-5, 3.39 ERA, 1.12 WHIP) 
Game 3 - RHP Lance McCullers (3-2, 2.45 ERA, 1.02 WHIP) vs. RHP Matt Shoemaker (4-5, 5.20 ERA, 1.22 WHIP)

The Astro start out the series with Brett Oberholtzer, which in the past may have not seen seem like putting your best foot forward. But Obe' is  2-0 with a 1.88 ERA in his last two starts, including eight scoreless on June 12 vs. Seattle.

Hector Santiago is 2-2 with a 3.12 ERA in his last seven games, including one appearance out of the bullpen. He has 39 strikeouts and 12 walks during that stretch.

Collin McHugh is struggling, he seems to not know what kind of stuff he has at the start of his past few outings. But he finds a way to make it work after the first inning or two. He has eight quality starts out of 14 outings this season. C.J. Wilson has been strong in his last two outings, just one earned runs over his last 15 innings.

Lance McCullers has struck out 46 batters in just 40 1/3 innings, but he has pitched just 9 1/3 innings over his last two starts. Matt Shoemaker gave up five runs over four innings in his last start, Friday against the Athletics.

Prediction

Astros take two out of three with a strong selection of pitchers against the Halos.