T.M. Selection: Houston Astros -1.5

I like the Houston Astros to win this game against the Detroit Tigers on Monday. Houston comes into this game off a 12-4 win on Sunday against the Angels. They've now won 4 series' in a row and should have no problem in making that five straight in this one. The Astros will start their 28 year old southpaw in Framber Valdez (14-5, 2.64 ERA,) who's had an excellent season so far. Although he is off a loss, he's only lost that one game since the first week of July before the all star break. Earlier this season when Valdez met with the Tigers, he went 6 innings and gave up just two in the 3-2 win. Speaking of Detroit, they are only 4-8 in their last 12 games after Sunday's 4-0 loss to the Royals. They will start Eduardo Rodriguez (3-4, 4.13 ERA,) also a southpaw pitcher, who's been very inconsistent this season. In his last two starts, he's given up eight earned runs. The Tigers also can't hit any homeruns. They only have hit 88 all season as a team, while the Astros have hit 178 out of the park. With the playoffs getting close and every game meaning something, I expect the Astros to really take it to the Tigers here on Monday in the first game of this series.

T.M. Prediction: 6-0 Astros