Game Thread 132 2.0 August 25th vs. Anaheim Angels 1:10 pm CST

Framber Valdez will start his 6th game for the Hometown Team in 2019. He will square off against Jaime Barria. The Angels will trot out the regular starters, with the exception of Kole Calhoun, who’s sitting against the lefty Valdez. Springer appears to have the day off for the Astros.

After a surprising 2018, Barria has been bad every which way in 2019, with 6.35 ERA over 65 IP. He’s been a little unlucky on fly balls turning into HR.

Framber is that boyfriend that you just keep hoping has changed. Has he? After his nice start on June 15th against Toronto, Framber cratered over his next four appearances, in which he gave up 19 ER over 11 IP, with a ghastly K/BB ratio of 9/11. After a bad start for RR on July 23rd, Framber has pitched four times, In those four starts, here are the numbers: 27 IP, 10 ER, 7 BB/40K. He’s been getting deep into games, throwing between 91-101 pitches to get into the 7th or even 8th inning. He deserves to make this start, and if he’s good, it’s his 5th starter job to lose.

What else are we looking forward to today, TCB Nation? A Toro breakout? An Alvarez game, a sweep? Go Astros.