Houston Astros at Arizona Diamondbacks: This weekend's Who Cares? series

The three-game set coming up in Arizona between the Diamondbacks and Houston Astros means diddly-squat with both teams out of the playoff picture.

The stretch run towards the postseason might just be more exciting than the postseason itself. From now through Oct 4 there are going to be a lot of series and individual games with a lot riding on the outcome.

There are also going to be a lot of series and games that don't mean a thing at all.

After spending the bulk of this season picking out games to play with great pitching matchups or series that mean something in the standings -- In other words, being a big fat square -- it's time to chuck that and head to the exact opposite end of the standings to find games for handicapping purposes. So if you're looking for exciting contests, Cy Young contenders pitted against each other, first-place on the line type of games, you're not going to find them here.

My one rule the rest of the way is the game/series has to include two sub-.500 teams at the very least. In terms of series that fit this criteria are Pittsburgh in Milwaukee to face the Brewers and Houston at the Diamondbacks in Arizona. The Cleveland-Baltimore series got underway on Thursday and will feature the worst combined record in a series this weekend, but I won't be able to make a series bet on that one with Game 1 already on the board.

The Astros and Diamondbacks combine for a 118-137 record (.463), a little better than the 114-138 (.452 ) tally the Pirates and Brew Crew team up for. Together the 'Stros and Snakes are 31 games out of their respective division leads, same as Milwaukee and Pittsburgh combine to sit. Since Brian Moehler isn't pitching in this series for Houston, I have a decent chance at picking a game correctly so I'm going with that series.

Right off the bat I'm betting contrary to the numbers on the series. The Astros have dropped seven of their last 10 at Chase, so naturally I'm going to take them to win two of three. I've lost the last three series plays I've made, so you should probably fade me and take the Snakes instead.

And then I'm going to bet Arizona to win Game 1, maybe Game 2 as well. I'm 3-7 the last 10 moneyline/runline plays I've made, so again I'm going to suggest you not do the same as me. This is the worst rut of the season so far since it also includes being in an 0-3 hole in office beer bets with Vegas Dave.

So that's it; Astros to win the series at +150 and Arizona -150 to take Game 1 on Friday night. If you want some pitching stats and weather, look below. If you want to follow me on Twitter, Skype, text, fax, telex or telegraph, tough shit. Uncle Willie don't play those games.

PITCHING MATCHUPS
Game 1, Fri 9.40 p.m. (ET): Yorman Bazardo (1-0, 4.50) vs. Max Scherzer (13-11, 4.12)
Game 2, Sat 8:10 p.m.: Bud Norris (3-2, 5.86) vs. Jon Garland (10-16, 4.48)
Game 3, Sun 4:10 p.m.: Wandy Rodriguez (16-10, 2.82) vs. Dan Haren (15-11, 2.74)

PHOENIX WEATHER
If you're in the area this weekend you might be lucky if the thermometer drops much below 90º. Don't worry, there won't be any humidity. The roof should be closed.

NOTE: The W-L records shown for starting pitchers are their team's W-L mark when they start games. Statistical sources for this article were Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com and ESPN.com