Arizona @ Houston preview
Minute Maid Park
Last Meeting ( May 5, 2010 ) Arizona 2, Houston 4
The Arizona Diamondbacks have been hovering around .500 - mostly just below, - for the last week.
It’s an up-and-down act that comes despite the fact their No. 1 starter, Dan Haren, hasn’t come close to his previous level of domination and their former Cy Young winner, Brandon Webb, never made it out of spring training while rehabbing from shoulder surgery.
That considered – not that the other 15 teams in the National League care – Arizona is hanging in pretty well at 13-15.
Arizona is hoping that when Haren takes the mound Thursday in the series finale with Houston at Minute Maid Park, he will return to the form that made him one of the most feared hurlers in baseball.
The right-hander has stumbled, by his standards, to a 4.50 ERA to start the season. Two of his six starts were very un-Haren like as he gave up nine hits in each game and a total of 12 earned runs. In his four other starts, he has given up a total of eight runs for a 3-1 record overall.
Oddly enough, he’s been incredible at the plate where he’s 9-for-18 this year.
The microscope is on Haren without Webb, who threw off the front of the mound recently in taking the next step in recovery from shoulder surgery.
It shouldn’t be anything new for Haren. He was thrust into the No. 1 role after Webb was removed from his first assignment in 2009 and hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since.
Haren handled the role so well that it took him to a new level - one that General Manager Josh Byrnes wasn’t sure he’d reached when he traded for him three seasons ago.
Haren takes the mound with left-hander Wandy Rodriguez as his combatant. Rodriguez has never really put together an entire season of solid pitches, but this he’s building off his best season.
After going 14-12 in 2009 with a 3.03 ERA, Rodriguez is holding his own thus with one bad start amongst his five games this season. He currently holds a 3.64 ERA.
He’ll take the mound against the Diamondbacks with some of the pressure off after the Astros ended their eight-game losing streak on Wednesday.
The Astros are hitting just .227 over their past 10 games, compared to a .263 average over the same period for the Diamondbacks. Houston has scored just five runs through three games in this series.