The good news is that the Angels have beaten the Astros this year. The bad news is that was way back on their first meetup of the year, and since then the Angels have dropped 11 straight against Houston. The Angels have been outscored 73-40 in those 12 games.
The Angels have 10 games left and 7 of those are against the Astros (the other 3 are against the A's). At 86 losses, the Angels are bound to lose 90 games and may end up in the 92-93 loss range. I guess this is actually good news if you are jockeying for a higher draft pick next year, but it sure has not been a lot of fun watching the Angels suck the life out of fans in 2016.
Houston is chasing a wild card spot and at 1 game behind with 7 left to play against the hapless Angels, their fate is in good hands. Yet again, the Angels best position is to play spoiler to a team fighting for their post-season livelihood right now.
Last time the Halos journeyed to Houston, they only scored 6 total runs in that series sweep. During the month of September, the Astros have been struggling slightly and are only 11-9.
Biggest question: At this point I wonder how long before the Angels can actually beat the Astros again??
Ricky Nolasco v. Mike Fiers Thursday, Sept 22nd, 2016 @ 5:10PM
Ricky Nolasco v. Astros Current Roster (Career)
AB
H
BAA
K%
HR
FIP
17
7
.412
15.0
1
7.39
Mike Fiers v. Angels Current Roster (Career)
AB
H
BAA
K%
HR
FIP
84
26
.310
18.5
6
6.29
Players/Stats to watch:
C.J. Cron v. Mike Fiers (Last 5 years)
AB
H
RBI
HR
BA
8
3
4
2
.375
Mike Trout v. Mike Fiers (Last 5 years)
AB
H
RBI
HR
BA
10
3
4
1
.300
Nolasco has a 4.03 since joining the Angesl and a 4.78 ERA this year. By those numbers, he's obviously been better sicne the start of August when he joined the Halos. Nolasco generally throws around 6 innings and his last time out he threw 6 scoreless against the Blue Jays. He hasn't been amazing but he hasn't been horrible either - though he has given up 4+ runs in 4 of his 9 starts as an Angel.
Mike Fiers have been very up and down all year, including his two starts against the Angels. Back in May he was trashed for 7 runs in 3.2 innings, but in July he only allowed 3 runs over 7 innings. Like Nolasco, FIers threw 6 scoreless innings his last time out (against the Mariners).
VERDICT: Pretty evenly matched pitchers. They are even the same height. Flip a coin.
Alex Meyer v. Doug Fister Friday, Sept 23rd, 2016 @ 5:10PM
Alex Meyer v. Astros Current Roster (Career)
AB
H
BAA
K%
HR
FIP
8
2
.250
18.2
1
12.20
Doug Fister v. Angels Current Roster (Career)
AB
H
BAA
K%
HR
FIP
114
23
.202
19.8
2
3.40
Players/Stats to watch:
Mike Trout v. Doug Fister (Last 5 years)
AB
H
RBI
HR
BA
16
6
1
0
.313
Alex Meyer finally gave us a flash of what we were hoping for his on his last trip to the mound. Sure it was only 5 innings, but Meyer shut down the Blue Jays on 2 hits, 3 walks, and 7 strikeout. He would have gone another inning but the 79 pitches he threw was a season high. Given that he threw 76 and 68 in his previous two starts, he's slowly working up the pitch count. I'm guessing They may cap him around 90 for this start and hopefully we'll see him pitch well against a tough hitting team.
Fister has beat the Angels twice this year in two starts. He's allowed just 3 earned runs in 13 innings back in May and June. It's been a really rough September for Fister who has given up 23 runs in his 4 starts to the tune of a 12.78 ERA. It's a career high year for Fister in WHIP, ERA, HR allowed and general suckage. Don't worry Doug, the Weaver feels your pain.
VERDICT: I'm going with Meyer over Fister here and am expecting a high K count so long as Meyer can keep his pitches under control.
Chacin has had two back to back good starts, logging 6 innings against the Mariners and 5 against Texas. In both games he allowed only 1 run and he only gave up 9 total hits in those 11 innings. He's not always the most consistent starter, but he's been looker sharper as of late, although it did take him 91 pitches to get through 5 innings on Monday. In his one starts against the Astros this year, he gave up 4 runs in 4 innings.
Peacock started out in the pen this year and has started 3 games in the month of September. In those games he's only given up 4 runs through 15 innings. Peacock has a 2.86 ERA on the year with only 22 innings pitched. He last faced the Angels way back in 2014 (3 times) and went 2-1 with 9 runs allowed through 14.1 innings.
VERDICT: Could be a slug fest and I'm predicting an Angels win if Chacin can hold the Astros down through at least 5 innings.
Daniel Wright v. Joe Musgrove
Sunday, Sept 25th, 2016 @ 11:10AM
Rookie battle!
Players/Stats to watch:
None
Daniel Wright has been about what was expected for a guy the Reds didn't even want. He's started 3 games for the Angels and has given up 12 runs through 14.2 innings. He has a 7.60 ERA as an Angel. Wright's best big league start was against the Blue Jays on September 15th when he allowed 3 runs over 5 innings.
Also a rookie, Joe Musgrove has started 9 games this year since the beginning of August. He has a 4.42 ERA on the season and has allowed only 6 total runs in his last 3 starts (3.14 ERA)
VERDICT: The Angels also seem to have a much harder time with rookie pitchers than other teams so I'm going with the Astros on this one.
OVERALL VERDICT: I'd be surprised if the Angels take more than 1 game but stranger things have happened.
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