The Houston Astros have slowed down significantly after a terrific start to the year and have now won just six of their last seven games. The San Francisco Giants defeated them 8-1 in last night's opener of a two game set at Minute Maid Park, and I'm backing the visitors to record an upset tonight.

Here are my keys to the game:

1. Pitching - The Giants will hand the ball to Tim Hudson (1-3, 4.50 ERA) who was torched for six runs on 15 hits over 6 2/3 innings in a 7-2 loss against the Fish his last time out. A bounce back is likely here though as he's 5-0 with a 1.24 ERA in seven career starts against the Astros, holding them to a collective .189 batting average and he's compiled a 2.03 ERA over two road starts on the season. Houston will counter with Brett Oberholtzer who will make his season debut tonight just coming back from the DL. He was only 5-13 with a 4.39 ERA in 24 starts last year and is more than likely to come in rusty here.

2. Road Warriors - The Giants have won five straight meetings in Houston and each of their last four with Hudson taking the mound away from home.

3. X-Factor - Houston has a league-worst 15 runs scored and .144 batting average over the last seven days.

Selection: This is a play on the San Francisco Giants +1.5 (8*)