Houston left-hander Wandy Rodriguez is Mr. Hyde at home and Dr. Jekyll on the road. With the Astros at home this afternoon, back Mr. Hyde going up against the Florida Marlins.
The Florida Marlins have some talented young hitters. What they don't have is good fielding, the ability to get key hits with men in scoring position and an experienced, good starting pitching staff.
The latest not-ready-for-prime-time pitcher the Marlins are trotting out is 25-year-old Burke Badenhop, a guy who has thrown more than 400 innings of minor league ball. This is his major league starting debut. How good is Badenhop? I'll put it to you this way: The Marlins decided to keep recently demoted Rick VandenHurk in the starting rotation rather than break camp with Badenhop as a starter. VandenHurk may have been the worst starting pitcher in the National League.
The Marlins have dropped six of their last eight games in Houston. They are expected to start Wes Helms at first instead of Mike Jacobs. That's a dropoff.
The key question is if the favorite price on Houston is justified with Wandy Rodriguez on the hill? It sure wouldn't be if Rodriguez were pitching in any place but Houston. He's 3-10 with a 6.41 ERA away from Houston since the start of last season. But at home, Rodriguez is 6-3 with a 2.73 ERA since the beginning of 2007. It's hard to figure this kind of home/road dichotomy.
It's not hard to figure that the price is right to lay in this matchup with Rodriguez at home. The Astros are 13-4 (76 percent) at home the past two seasons when Rodriguez has been the starter.
Free Pick: Astros -137