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Milwaukee Brewers at Houston Astros Preview & Picks

Written May 21, 2009 by Jordan Haimowitz

brewers-astros-preview-052109 The Brew Crew had their seven game winning streak snapped last night as they fell to the Astros 6-4. With a 25-15 record the Brewers still sit a top first place in their division, Ryan Braun has been sensational as of late, he has eight home runs and 29 RBIs on the season while hitting .323 from the plate. His partner in crime, Prince Fielder, has nine home runs and 37 RBIs to lead his team. JJ hardy and Mike Cameron have been key contributors for this team as both have put up five or more home runs with 20+ RBIs each. Although Corey hart has had a slow start the offense overall has not lacked consistency. Pitching wise they have been up and down. Every starter has looked great and awful at times. Tonight’s starter for Milwaukee fits that bill. Jeff Suppan takes his 3-3 record and 4.63 ERA to the mound tonight. He is coming off his best start of the season when he tossed seven scoreless innings against the Cardinals. Suppan has also faced the Astros this year in Houston. He went six innings allowing three runs on four hits while also walking four batters. Last year he had one start against the Astros in which he got rocked for eight runs on 11 hits in six innings of work. Expect him to get hit around again tonight. Last season his ERA was 5.37 on the road. Trouble is what this game will be for the Brewers. In order to pull away with a win here they will need to stretch out the game with a lot of base runners. However, that will be a tall order against Oswalt. The baseball lines for today’s game show the Astros -145 and the total set for 9 runs.

The Astros are 18-20 on the season and have won four of their last six games. Perhaps more important then that is that Miguel Tejada and Lance Berkman have started to hit the ball much better. Berkman has eight homers and 22 RBIs now as both those numbers have started to climb. Carlos lee has been solid with eight home runs and 29 RBIs while also posting a .324 batting average. While Hunter Pence has not produced power numbers, he does have a .336 BA and has reached base at an alarming rate. Michael Bourn and Pudge Rodriguez have both been nice additions to this team as well. The ace of the staff gets the ball tonight for the Stros. Roy Oswalt has not looked like his usual dominating self so far as his 1-2 record with a 4.50 ERA is very unlike him. Although is history tells us anything, it’s that he can be counted on at home.. Last season Oz went 10-3 at home as opposed to 7-7 on the road. He also defeated Milwaukee in both his starts against them while posting a 2.77 ERA. He struck out more then a batter per inning and held the Brewers to a .216 BA as a team. Look for Berkman to have a big night from the plate and I see Oswalt pitching his best game of the year. This is set up nicely for Houston.

Haimo’s Hot Notes: The Brewers are 21-5 in their last 26 games overall. The Astros are 24-8 in their last 32 games as a favorite. Houston is 7-3 in their last 10 Thursday games. For the head to head match up. The Astros are 8-1 in the last nine games at home vs Milwaukee when Oswalt starts. Look for that trend to continue in the win column for Houston. I like this play a lot tonight. Enough to make it my BEST BET.

Jordan’s Pick: Houston Astros -145 (BEST BET) & OVER 9 Runs (small play)

After getting a 2-0 lead, Francisco Liriano got smacked around for seven runs in one inning and that was all she wrote for that game. A minor slip up so lets get back to work.

Documented MLB Record:

56-30 OVERALL

21-11 BEST BETS

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One Response to “Milwaukee Brewers at Houston Astros Preview & Picks”

Randy Funk on May 21st, 2009 11:22 pm

October here we come!!! Were playing such good ball, compared to last year. We got the pitching staff, the offense, great defense, finally we are playing as a team!!!! And I think we have the confidence to make it all the way to the world series this year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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