San Francisco Giants vs. Houston Astros

The Houston Astros can get a little bit of momentum as they face the second-half of the season by getting to .500.

Still residing in the six-team NL Central is not encouraging however, as Houston (38-39) would need to leapfrog four teams for first place, making the three-game deficit in which they trail the first-place Milwaukee Brewers, seem so much more.

But if the Astros, winners of six of their last eight, want to feel better about their situation, they just have to look at their opponents for their three-game Fourth of July weekend series, the San Francisco Giants (42-36), who have had a consistent season, but are unfortunate to be in the same division as the MLB-best Los Angeles Dodgers.

The San Francisco Giants have the best second-place record in the National League, which is usually good in terms of the Wild-Card, but the other two divisions have first-place ties.

San Francisco will figure to have problems with Houston’s starters, who are 6-1 with a 2.16 ERA in their last 12 games and the Houston Astros, as a team, have won six straight over the Giants.

Felipe Paulino (2-4, 5.51) will try to keep Houston’s starting dominance going, but he has not fared well on the road, losing all three road starts this year. He notched a victory, his first as a starter since September 30, 2007, by allowing a run on just three hits in seven innings which included a career-high nine strikeouts in an 8-1 win over the Detroit Tigers on Saturday.

Ryan Sadowski (1-0, 0.00) will make his second major league start, but will be hard to top his debut in which he allowed just four hits in six scoreless innings against the potent Milwaukee Brewers offense in a 6-0 San Francisco win on Sunday.

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