Two Wild Card hopefuls—Houston Astros and Milwaukee Brewers—go at it today. The Houston Astros have won six straight games and find themselves miraculously just three games out in the Wild Card race. The Milwaukee Brewers are a little bit further back at six games, but they are still in the hunt. There are only a few weeks left in the season, so both of these teams need to start making their push now. Houston is right where they want to be for a push. The Brewers can’t afford to lose at this point. While they are 6 games out, they are also trailing eight other teams. Basically, they’ve only got a prayer.

The Astros looked foolish for signing Roger Clemens up until about a week ago. They started winning and other teams started losing or staggering. Right above the Astros are the red hot Marlins. The Astros are chasing 4 other teams, but they’ve got a shot at pulling it off if they keep on winning. Today, leftie Andy Pettitte is taking the hill. He’s 12-13 with a 4.56 ERA this season, but he’s had a resurgence of late. Over the past 5 games, he’s got a 2.86 ERA and all the crucial elements—hits, walks, homeruns—have lowered.

The Brewers are sending Davis to the hill. He’s 9-8 with a 5.17 ERA this season. Davis is not pitching well. His ERA has risen over the past 5 games, but the Brewers have found a way to win 3 of those games. He’s pitching just under 6 innings per outing, so the bullpen figures to get some work today.

For the Astros it’s simple. They need a nice outing for Pettitte to win this game. There’s a good shot that they score more than a few runs today. Milwaukee is not playing well on the road. They have lost 6 straight. Pettitte has a pretty solid record against the Brewers and should be able to put another notch in the belt today. The Astros are -210 favorites and the Brewers are +180 dogs. It’s also worth noting that the Astros can complete the sweep with a win today. They won game one 10-3 and game two 1-0.