HOUSTON — With 32 games left on the schedule

Dave Henderson Jersey , the Houston Astros are in the throes of the pennant race they avoided last season when they claimed the American League West by 21 games.Their collective resiliency has been taxed during the past two months, with injuries stalling their pursuit of a second consecutive division title and opening the door for the blistering Oakland Athletics to make a serious play for the AL West title.The Astros survived a bit of a test last weekend by salvaging the finale of their three-game series in Oakland, reclaiming their perch atop the division while preventing the Athletics from securing sole possession of first place.Article continues below ...Those two teams will square off for the final time starting Monday night at Minute Maid Park, with the Astros (80-50) fresh off a 6-3 road trip and riding a five-game winning streak into the opener of a three-game series with the Athletics (79-52), who trail by two games in the loss column.Houston has already secured the season series by winning 10 of 16 games, but a series victory would provide a bit of a cushion as the Astros prepare for a challenging stretch run.Aiding the Astros’ cause is their improved health. Second baseman Jose Altuve returned from the 10-day disabled list last Tuesday and Houston hasn’t lost since. Outfielder George Springer is set to rejoin the lineup on Monday after being sidelined for the past week with a sore left quad.“We finished strong on the road trip and that was key,” Astros shortstop Carlos Correa said. “We wanted to go home playing good baseball and we’ve been able to do that. Now we’ve got a good series against the A’s and we’ve got to keep going.”Right-hander Gerrit Cole (11-5, 2.73 ERA) will start for Houston with an extra day of rest. After throwing at least 100 pitches in eight consecutive starts through his final appearance of July, Cole has yet to reach the 100-pitch plateau this month, averaging 94.2 in his four starts.Cole has worked at least seven innings only once of his last 11 starts after opening the season with five consecutive such appearances. The Astros are 1-4 in his last five starts.Cole is 2-1 with a 2.84 ERA in five career starts against Oakland, including 2-0 with a 2.92 ERA in four starts this season.Left-hander Brett Anderson (3-3, 3.47 ERA) gets the start for the Athletics. Anderson has produced consecutive scoreless starts, allowing six hits and one walk with eight strikeouts in 14 2/3 innings against the Seattle Mariners and the Texas Rangers. He is 1-0 with a 0.68 ERA this month.Anderson is 1-2 with a 5.50 ERA in four career outings (three starts) against the Astros. He has faced Houston once this season, allowing nine runs (seven earned), 10 hits and three walks in three innings in a 16-2 home loss on May 7 that qualifies as his worst start of 2018.Oakland took three of four weekend games in Minnesota to keep pace with the Astros. Matt Chapman slammed two homers in Sunday’s 6-2 win and has 10 homers and a .348 batting average since the All-Star break.“He’s really quickly adapted to laying off some balls away http://www.athleticsfanproshop.com/authentic-dennis-eckersley-jersey , and I think some of those strike threes you’re seeing called on him are balls, too, which are frustrating,” Oakland manager Bob Melvin told mlb.com. “But that’s allowing him to move the ball over a little bit and get good pitches to hit. He’s taken to it pretty quickly at the big league level.”Oakland is 7-0-1 in its last eight series but will arrive in Houston with ace left-hander Sean Manaea on the 10-day disabled list with a shoulder impingement. Right-hander Emilio Pagan will replace Manaea in the rotation. The New York Yankees still haven’t announced who will start the American League wild-card game against the Oakland A’s next Wednesday.But Thursday, before a 12-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays reduced their magic number for clinching home field for the game to one, the Yankees did announce their rotation for the weekend regular-season finale in Boston.It sure looks like J.A. Happ will be the wild-card starter.Article continues below ...The left-hander, 6-0 with a 2.18 ERA in nine starts with New York, opens the Fenway Park series against Rick Porcello. Lance Lynn goes Saturday and Luis Severino on Sunday.That would leave Happ on his regular rest for the wild card, but Severino will have just two days’ rest.Happ has pitched well in his career against Boston, leading to speculation that Happ would be saved for the Red Sox. But manager Aaron Boone said the focus is on Oakland, regardless of where the game is played.“No,” Boone said. “I would say we’re going to pour everything kind of into the wild-card game and what we think will give us the best chance.”Masahiro Tanaka apparently took himself out of consideration with two straight bad starts. Severino, who had been the ace, recovered some from his recent struggles but doesn’t appear to be all the way back.That leaves Happ, who is 16-6 with a 3.57 ERA overall with Toronto and New York and should be rewarded — quite possible by the Yankees — with a free agent contract this winter.He is 7-4 with a 2.82 career ERA against the Red Sox Santiago Casilla Jersey , 4-2 with a 2.91 ERA at Fenway Park. He would be in line for only one ALDS start — Game 3, which would be in New York.Happ has pitched three times, in three different stadiums, against Boston this season, going 0-1 with two good starts and one shaky. He has 22 strikeouts in 16 2/3 innings against the Red Sox.Porcello, 17-7 with a 4.33 ERA, is 2-0 with a 2.53 ERA this year against the Yankees — 10-8 with a 3.16 ERA this season. He has had one bad start against New York this season, but his other two have been gems — one run and three hits in 16 innings with 15 strikeouts.The Yankees expect to have Aaron Hicks (hamstring) back in the lineup Friday night and may well get Didi Gregorius back this weekend.The Red Sox have some bad numbers against Happ, but former teammate and close friend Steve Pearce is 10-for-29 (.345) with five home runs against his buddy. Brandon Phillips is 8-for-29 (.348) with three homers, and two of Ian Kinsler’s seven hits have been home runs.But Andrew Benintendi is 0-for-15, Sandy Leon 1-for-10 (.100), Jackie Bradley Jr. 3-for-20 (.150), Xander Bogaerts 5-for-29 (.172), Mookie Betts 6-for-32 (,188) with a homer Clayton Richard Jersey , Rafael Devers 2-for-9 (.222) and J.D. Martinez 4-for-17 (.235).The Yankees have dreadful numbers against Porcello, hitting a cumulative .214 (60-for-81) but with 13 homers. Neil Walker is 1-for-14 (.071), Greg Bird 1-for-12 (.083), Andrew McCutcheon 1-for-10 (.100), Austin Romine 1-for-9 (.111), Hicks 4-for-31 (.129) with two homers, Gary Sanchez 2-for-13 (.154), Ronald Torreyes 2-for-12 (.167) and Adeiny Hechavarria 4-for-22 (.182).The Red Sox, who will open the ALDS at home next Friday and Saturday, have already broken the club record for wins in a season and, after an off-day Thursday, come into this game at 107-52.Chris Sale, who will pitch Game 1, took the loss in Wednesday night’s second game of a day/night double-header at Fenway.“Obviously I’m not where I want to be,” he said after working 4 2/3 innings http://www.padresfanproshop.com/authentic-manuel-margot-jersey , his velocity down.“Not great, we saw that,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “Velocity wasn’t great. The slider, the two (players) that he hit, but then after that he had a few swings and misses. The changeup was OK.”The Yankees hit four homers, two by Giancarlo Stanton, and CC Sabathia notched his 246th career win Thursday. But the victory was costly for Sabathia, who was ejected in the sixth inning for throwing at Jesus Sucre. The ejection left him two innings shy of the 155 he needed for a $500,000 bonus.“I don’t really make decisions based on money, I guess,” said Sabathia, who would likely start a Game 4 of the ALDS. “I just felt like it was the right thing to do.”