Astros lineup Saturday vs. Giants

The Astros, who lost to the Giants 8-2 on Friday night, will battle San Francisco again at 3:10 p.m. today in a terrific pitching match-up between Roy Oswalt and Tim Lincecum. Oswalt is 2-4 with a 2.63 ERA, but has seven quality starts. Lincecum, who beat Oswalt on Opening Day, is 4-0 with a 1.86 ERA.

Oswalt is the only pitcher with seven quality starts in all seven of his outings. It’s the most quality starts to begin a season for an Astros starter since Roger Clemens began the 2005 season with nine. He has received the second-lowest run support in the NL at 2.44 runs. Teammate Felipe Paulino has received the lowest run support.

Oswalt was great at AT&T Park last year, alowing one run on three hits in eight innings to rescue the Astros after they had been outscored 22-0 in the first two games of the series. He’s 5-6 in his career against San Francisco.

The Astros didn’t have Lance Berkman in the lineup when they lost to the Giants on Opening Day, and Berkman is on fire. He’s 9-for-18 with five runs scored, four walks, three doubles, two homers and five RBIs in his last five games, and Hunter Pence has also caught fire. He has a six-game hiting streak (.440) and has homers in four of his last five games. He’s hitting .333 in his last 17 games.

Here’s the Astros’ lineup:

CF Michael Bourn

2B Kaz Matsui

1B Lance Berkman

LF Carlos Lee

RF Hunter Pence

3B Pedro Feliz

C Humberto Quintero

SS Tommy Manzella

P Roy Oswalt