The Astros and Padres have seen a lot of each other recently with home and home series. Padres' starter Waldron has had three recent starts, none of them longer than five innings, with an ERA of 5.50. Waldron is a rare bird these days, throwing a knuckle ball. With knuckle-ballers it is either feast or famine. The Astros have enough veterans who have probably faced a knuckle-baller before, not to mention that they are the hottest hitting team in the league over the past two weeks.
Houston's starter France, after a stellar year, has looked suddenly vulnerable with two poor outings in his last three starts. This could be more than a brief regression as France's OP BA climbed to .291 in August, and he allowed five runs in five innings in his only start in September. The Padres are hitting better than they have in most of the season; ninth in the league at .268/.764 in the last two weeks.
Eight of ten Astros game and three of the last four Padres/ Astros meetings have all gone over. Look for the Houston and San Diego to run up the score today. Take the over.