We haven’t touched on these two clubs since the very start of the season, when Houston visited Homestead in Series I and Memphis hosted Birmingham in Series III.

#Memphis Red Sox

Memphis is struggling. They come into series XII 10 games below .500 at 20-30, but only 6 games out in the Bill James Division.

They have really had issues across the board, with some recent hiccups in the bullpen calling what had been a strength all season into question.

There are some bright spots: Ted Williams is a likely all-star, slashing 291/381/542 and Reggie Smith has been on a tear, bringing his line up to 307/368/513. Those two, along with Mookie Betts and Bill White have been quite dependable all season.

The biggest concern offensively is probably Wade Boggs, who has been removed from the 2-spot in the lineup given his 244/362/327 slash line. Still, the OBP is solid and the Memphis faithful are convinced he’ll bounce back. The bigger question is how the sextet of recently promoted players, especially infielders Claude Ritchey and Wayne Causey, will perform at the WBL level.

On the mound Jon Lester leads the staff in wins at 5-3 with a quite solid 3.91 ERA. Roger Clemens, who has shown real flashes of brilliance, has little to show for it, at 0-4 with a 5.56 ERA to date. The other starters–Dean Chance, Tim Wakefield and Nixey Callahan–have been perfectly fine, but little more.

Joe Beggs has 7 saves and is yet to allow a run over 13 innings, and Jonathan Papelbon has been fantastic setting him up. Getting to Papelbon via Turk Farrell and Heath Bell has been bumpy at times, but overall the bullpen has been solid for the Red Sox.

So, it’s a team in need of better starting pitching and hoping the changes they have made offensively might all click.

#Houston Colt 45’s

Houston is who they are: currently 25-25 and 7 games back in the Cum Posey Division. They’re a solid team across the board, lacking power and suffering a bit in their bullpen, but just … solid. Which is almost a compliment.

Jim Wynn, Jeff Bagwell, and HR Johnson have been their best players offensively. Wynn, slashing 293/402/467, leads the team in OBP and SLG, and Johnson at .324 in BA. Wynn and Johnson have combined to steal 33 bases in 42 attempts, making the top of their lineup dangerous on the basepaths. Bagwell has 7 homeruns to lead the Colt 45’s and his 27 RBIs trail George Brett by 1.

The most obvious need is for one or more of Tony Gwynn, Craig Biggio, or Carlos Correa to break out of OPS’ hovering roughly around .700.

The starting pitching has been anchored, as expected, by Roy Oswalt at 5-2, 4.21. But the contributions of Toad Ramsey and Stubby Overmire have been totally unexpected, and if Bret Saberhagen‘s recent starts are indicative of him getting back on track, the rotation could be significantly better than average.

In the bullpen, Brad Lidge leads with 6 saves, but his 9.35 ERA has moved him out of the closer role, which now falls to Billy Wagner, who has impressed with a team low 2.38 ERA and 0.79 WHIP. It’s not clear how much longer the team will stick with Leon Day, Dock Ellis, or Bones Ely at the deep end of the bullpen.

#Series Matchups

Memphis’ starter listed first. Nixey Callahan (3-5, 4.91) @ Stubby Overmire (0-2, 3.58); Tim Wakefield (2-3, 4.33) @ Stephen Strasburg (2-3, 3.81); Roger Clemens (0-4, 5.56) @ Bret Saberhagen (3-3, 5.29); Jon Lester (5-3, 3.91) @ Roy Oswalt (5-2, 4.21).

It’s hard to argue that Memphis has the edge in any of the matchups: maybe, if Clemens puts together all the parts of his best starts and maybe Lester over Oswalt.