With Brocail pulling a hammy, he's likely to ride the Meat Wagon to the disabled list, which poses something of a problem for the Astros.
Valverde is out, likely until the end of May, perhaps until mid-June. Brocail is out. Moehler is coming off the disabled list at a time in which the bullpen has thrown 12 innings in the last two days. If Moehler falters again tomorrow in his first start off the DL and a rehab start in which he gave up a lot of runs (and admittedly recovered to retire the last 11 batters he faced), then you're probably looking at Ortiz and Sampson pitching in long relief. But that doesn't leave a whole lot of room for error. And if the Astros' bullpen needs anything right now, it's room for error.
It'll be interesting to see who the Astros call up when they put Brocail on the DL. They've called up Arias already this season, and if they do that here is your rotation
SP1: Roy
SP2: Wandy
SP3: Hampton
SP4: Moehler
SP5: Ortiz
Long Relief:
Sampson
Paulino
Specialists:
Byrdak (L)
Wright (L)
Fulchino
8th inning:
Geary
Closer:
LaHawk
Who will the Astros bring up?
Chad Paronto: 8IP, 4H/1ER, 5K:2BB, 1.13 ERA/0.75 WHIP
Jeremy Johnson: 16.2IP, 14H/3ER, 12K:3BB, 1.62 ERA/1.02 WHIP
Casey Daigle: 8IP, 10H/2ER, 5K:3BB, 2.25 ERA/1.63 WHIP
Alberto Arias: 16.1IP, 14H/7ER, 15K:10BB, 3.86 ERA/1.47 WHIP
Who do you like?
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
