The Road Ahead – Capsules for 6/13-6/15 Series vs. Houston

Houston Astros (33-34) vs. New York Yankees (34-33)

Fri, June 13, 8:05 pm

• Joba Chamberlain (1-2, 2.67) vs. Shawn Chacon (2-2, 4.96)

Sat, June 14, 7:05 pm

• Mike Mussina (9-4, 3.82) vs. Wandy Rodriguez (2-2, 1.99)

Sun, June 15, 2:05 pm

• Chien-Ming Wang (7-2, 4.30) vs. Roy Oswalt (5-6, 5.06)

The last time these two teams met was in 2003. The Yankees won two of three at home. The lone loss was a 14-0 defeat in which six Houston pitchers (Roy Oswalt, Pete Munro, Kirk Saarloos, Brad Lidge, Octavio Dotel and Billy Wagner) combined on a no-hitter.

For the Yankees: New York eclipsed .500 with their 4-1 over Oakland Thursday night. The Yankees have been two games over .500 just once this season (12-10 on April 23) … Joba Chamberlain, tonight’s starter, is expected to throw approximately 95 pitches tonight. It will be Joba’s first career road start … Former Astros pitcher Andy Pettitte is not scheduled to pitch in the series … Interleague play means get ready for some ugly swings. The top hitting Yankee pitcher is Mike Mussina (.170, 8-for-47).

For the Astros: Houston has lost 11 of their last 14 games … Saturday’s starter Wandy Rodriguez has an ERA of 0.72 at home this season. Opponents have hit just .183 against the left-hander at Minute Maid Park … Roy Oswalt, who takes the hill Sunday for the Astros, is coming off a seven-inning, one run win over the Brewers on Tuesday. Having gone 0-3 with a 6.12 ERA in his previous three starts, Oswalt returned to form with a season-high 10 strikeouts … OF Lance Berkman (.366 BA, 19 HR, 57 RBI) leads the majors with 62 runs scored … Over his last two starts, tonight’s starter Shawn Chacon has allowed 11 earned runs on 12 hits in six innings.