Series preview: Houston Astros at Cleveland Indians

The Tribe arrive home after a short road trip in Minnesota to take on the only AL foe they have yet to face in 2014, the Houston Astros.

• Friday's game is at 7:05 PM (Peacock vs. Carrasco)
• Saturday's game is at 7:05 PM (McHugh vs. Salazar) MLB.tv free game of the day
• Sunday's game is at 1:05 PM (Oberholtzer vs. Bauer)

After a day off on Monday, the Indians return to their tour of the AL Central with three games in Chicago and then three games in Kansas City.

Playoff Watch: Royals at Rangers, Tigers at Twins, Mariners at Red Sox, Rays at Blue Jays, White Sox at Yankees.

Team in a Box

The good news for Astros fans this year is that they are better than they were from 2010 to 2012 when they averaged a 54-108 record. The bad news is they haven't improved enough to be average. They are on pace for 68 wins which would be a 17 game improvement from last year, but would still classify them as terrible, just not god-awful.

For the past month they have treaded right around a .500 record and just finished a split in Fenway and took two of three in the Bronx. They have actually been decent against the AL Central, going 12-13. It is their interleague record (4-13) and season series against the A's, Mariners and Angels (14-26) that are dragging them way down.

They don't hit particularly well and the pitching staff has been pretty poor overall. They are right around middle of the pack defensively. We do catch a break by missing their best lefty, Keuchel, as well as rookie of the year candidate George Springer who is out injured.

Projected Roster

The lineup features one super stud in Altuve, their lone All Star representative. Carter and Fowler can also do some damage. Fowler has been especially hot since his return a week ago, a 1115 OPS in seven games. Carter has a 951 OPS and 10 homers in the past month. And Altuve continues to stay hot with a 843 OPS in the past month. Dominguez (512 OPS), Gonzalez (631) and Marsinick (673) have been the poorest hitters in the past month.

The Astros hitters love to hit lefties (758 OPS) but have really struggled against right handers (680). August has been their best month this year (748).

Projected Staff

#includes stats with Cubs

McHugh has been very effective after being claimed off waivers from the Rockies. His FIP is right in line with Keuchel who is the staff ace. Since returning to the rotation in late July he has a 2.27 ERA, 1.074 WHIP and 8.8 K/9. He has never faced the Indians in his short career. Oberholtzer has pitched pretty well in his past five starts as well, 3.27 ERA, 1.121 WHIP and 6.0 K/9. He made one relief appearance against Cleveland last year and gave up two unearned runs in a rain shortened six inning complete game 2-1 loss last September. Peacock was one of the players in the Jed Lowrie deal in the spring of 2013. He has not gotten out of the fifth in each of his past five starts, a 10.80 ERA, 18.1 innings, 2.345 WHIP and 7.4 K/9. He also has never faced the Indians.

The late inning relievers are anchored by three veterans, Qualls and two former Tribesman, Sipp and Veras. Veras has been much better since being cut by the Cubs. Sipp has been outright dominating. The back end of the bullpen is a lot of young guys. Overall the bullpen has struggled with just a 50% conversion rate on saves. And another LGFT will miss the series in Matt Albers.

On the Shelf

• CF George Springer [15 day DL], possible late August return
• CF Alex Presley [15 day DL], no timetable for return
• RP Matt Albers [60 day DL], possible September return
• RP Jesse Crain [60 day DL], no timetable for return
• P Jose Cisnero [60 day DL], out for season
• P Darin Downs [15 day DL], possible early September return
• P Josh Zeid [15 day DL], out for season

Almanac

*Does not include 2014 stats

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