Houston Astros

2007 Record: 73-89 (.451)
2007 Pythagorean Record: 71.5-90.5 (.442)

2008 Record: 33-34 (.493)
2008 Pythagorean Record: 32-35 (.475)

Manager: Cecil Cooper
General Manager: Ed Wade

Home Ballpark (multi-year Park Factors): Minute Maid Park (99/99)

Who’s Replacing Whom:

25-man Roster:

1B – Lance Berkman (S)
2B – Kazuo Matsui (S)
SS – Miguel Tejada (R)
3B – Ty Wigginton (R)
C – Brad Ausmus (R)
RF – Hunter Pence (R)
CF – Michael Bourn (L)
LF – Carlos Lee (R)

Bench:

R – Mark Loretta (IF)
S – Geoff Blum (IF)
L – Darin Erstad (OF)
R – Reggie Abercrombie (OF)
R – Humberto Quintero (C)

Rotation:

R – Roy Oswalt
R – Brandon Backe
R – Brian Moehler
R – Shawn Chacon
L – Wandy Rodriguez

Bullpen:

R – Jose Valverde
R – Oscar Villarreal
R – Doug Brocail
L – Wesley Wright
L – Tim Byrdak
R – Geoff Geary
R – Chris Sampson

15-day DL: R – Felipe Paulino

Typical Lineup:

R – Hunter Pence (RF)
S – Kazuo Matsui (2B)
R – Miguel Tejada (SS)
S – Lance Berkman (1B)
R – Carlos Lee (LF)
R – Ty Wigginton (3B)
L – Michael Bourne (CF)
R – Brad Ausmus (C)

Since the creation of the NL Central for the 1994 season, the Astros have finished below second place just twice. Since 1992, they’ve finished below .500 just twice, a 16-year run of success that, due to a handful of non-qualifying second-place finishes and some poor posteason performances, went largely ignored. The Astros finally made it to the World Series in 2005 behind the pitching troika of Roy Oswalt and former and future Yankees Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens, but things have been heading south ever since.

Still, the Astros enter this weekend’s series against the Yankees lurking just a game below .500. They’re that sort of team: half good, half bad. First baseman Lance Berkman has been arguably the best hitter in baseball thus far this year. He’s hitting .366/.451/.720, leading the majors in OPS, and, oh by the way, already has a career-high ten stolen bases and has been caught just once. Then again, the team’s catchers are hitting just .193/.266/.307 as rookie J.R. Towels proved unable to out-hit 39-year-old Brad Ausmus (a 1987 Yankee draft pick, incidentally) recently optioned back to triple-A. Some good. Some bad.

Roy Oswalt is still there and will face off against Chien-Ming Wang on Sunday, but like Wang, he’s been frustratingly inconsistent. He ran off a string of six strong starts from mid-April to mid-May, but the Astros are just 1-7 in his other eight starts. Some good. Some bad. Oswalt’s ERA is over 5.00, but 29-year-old Wandy Rodriguez, who faces Mike Mussina tomorrow, must have been working out with Cliff Lee this winter. He spent a month on the DL due to a groin injury, but when active has posted a 1.99 ERA with strong peripherals in seven starts. Some good. Some bad.

Tonight, the Yankees will face yet another ex-Yankee in Shawn Chacon. Chacon spent the last four months of 2007 as the Pirates’ primary set-up man, signed with the Astros over the winter, then started this season by going a record nine starts before earning his first first decision of the year. Though Chacon stayed 0-0, the Astros went 4-5 in those games. Since then, Chacon has picked up the decision every time out and gone 2-2. Same old story: Some good. Some bad. The encouraging news for the Yankees is that the bad has been the most recent trend. Chacon has allowed 11 runs in just six innings over his last two starts as he was torched by the Brewers and Cardinals.

Of course, the big news tonight is that Joba Chamberlain should be allowed to throw as many as 95 pitches. That essentially makes him a normal rookie starter (Phil Hughes averaged 95 pitches per start last year), and should keep pitch count from having an unusually large influence on how deep he goes into games from here forward. Oh, and he gets to hit tonight, too, which should be fun. Joba says he can rake. We shall see . . .