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Astros announce Lineups, Rotation
Houston Chronicle

With the season only days away, Houston Manager and General Manager, Mike Woods, has done as promised and been very open with us when we have asked him any and every question. We recently went to him with regards to as what the rotation is going to look like other than the perenial opening day starter Roy Oswalt. Woods' Response: "Well, i'm going to up front with you guys and our team, the current rotation is average at best and that is probably being too nice. We currently have all of our hopes of the pitching staff tied into Roy Oswalt, as everyone knows. Behind him we have Mike Hampton, we can't seem to stay healthy and this year, we are really going to need him to step up his preparation and durability in order for us to have even a remote chance at doing well. After Mike we have Wandy Rodriguez, whom we are expecting semi big things out of. Wandy is a 30 year old lefty, who is coming off of a season where he went 9-7 with a 3.54 ERA. After Wandy we have two huge question marks in Russ Ortiz and Brian Moehler. Our scouts have told me Moehler is much better off in the pen, but we really have nothing else to put in the fifth spot, so hopefully we will skip him as much as we can in order to keep him in the bullpen, where he is much better off."

The lineup this year is mostly the same with Berkman, Tejada, Lee, Pence, Matsui, and Keppinger being in the lineup everyday no matter who is pitching against the 'Stros. Some are probably wondering "Where is Pudge?!" and that is the exact question we asked Mr. Woods. "Well Pudges age is getting up there and we need to start grooming someone to take over for him. With that being said we have decided to star J.R. Towles against right handers and Pudge vs lefties. We need to see what J.R. can give us day in and day out in order to decide what we have to at this posistion in the near future. I'm very intrigued to see what this guy can do for us. We also are going to be splitting time in centerfield between Michael Bourn and Jason Michaels. Bourn, the lefthander, will be playing against righties, while Michaels will hit against the lefties. We are going to have Bourn lead-off for us because of his great speed and base running abilities."

Against Righties:

1. Michael Bourn
2. Miguel Tejada
3. Lance Berkman
4. Carlos Lee
5. Hunter Pence
6. Jeff Keppinger
7. Kaz Matsui
8. J.R. Towles

Against Lefties:

1. Jeff Keppinger
2. Kaz Matsui
3. Lance Berkman
4. Carlos Lee
5. Hunter Pence
6. Jason Michaels
7. Miguel Tejada
8. Ivan Rodriguez

Rotation/Bullpen:

1. Roy Oswalt
2. Mike Hampton
3. Wandy Rodriguez
4. Russ Ortiz
5. Brian Moehler

Closer: Jose Valverde
Set-up Men: Doug Brocail/Tim Byrdak
Middle Relief: Wesley Wright/Geoff Geary/LaTroy Hawkins
Mop-Up: Yorman Bazardo