St. Louis at Houston

Brandon Looper has a career ERA of under four, which is very solid in this era of baseball, but he has performed well above that against the Astros. He is 6-3 with a 2.57 ERA against Houston over his career. Looper is another pitcher that was converted into a starter last year, and he was great early, but struggled late, as most do. His April ERA was 1.91, and he has begun '08 with another big game allowing just one run over six innings. Chris Sampson has been used as both a reliever and starter and after a very solid '06, he struggled as a starter and seems to be one pitch short of being a quality man in the rotation. We prefer a fresh Looper vs. an Astros’ lineup that isn't very potent, and one that Looper has dominated over his career.