• When; where: 7:35 p.m. today, 7:10 Saturday, 1:35 p.m. Sunday; Turner Field

• TV; radio: WPCH on Friday and Saturday, SportSouth on Sunday; 640 AM, 94.9 FM

• Probable starting pitchers: Tonight — RH Brian Moehler (4-3, 3.82 ERA), Astros vs. RH Tim Hudson (8-6, 3.31), Braves; Saturday — RH Chris Sampson (2-2, 5.71 ERA), Astros vs. LH Jo-Jo Reyes (3-6, 4.15), Braves; Sunday — LH Wandy Rodriguez (3-3, 3.08) Astros vs. RH Charlie Morton (1-2, 6.16), Braves

• Worth noting: The Braves will not have to face ace Roy Oswalt, who was scheduled to start Saturday but will take an extra few days to rest his strained hip abductor and start Tuesday in Pittsburgh. ... Former Brave Oscar Villareal was designated for assignment on Wednesday by the Astros after he went 1-3 with a 5.01 ERA in 35 relief appearances. He had allowed 12 home runs in 37 2/3 innings. The Braves traded Villareal to the Astros in November for center fielder Josh Anderson. ... The Astros made headlines last week when right-hander Shawn Chacon was released following a physical confrontation with general manager Ed Wade. He was unhappy about being moved to the bullpen.

• Who's hot: Carlos Lee was 12-for-28 (.429) in his last seven games entering Thursday night with two doubles, two homers and seven RBIs in those seven games. Lance Berkman was second in the majors' to Chipper Jones with a .358 batting average heading into Thursday's games. He had a seven-game hitting streak to finish out June going 12-for-25 (.480) but went hitless in his first two games against the Dodgers.

• Tonight's pitching matchup: The good news for Hudson is interleague play is over. The former Oakland Athletic has gone 1-11 with a 7.01 ERA in 14 interleague games as a Brave, including 1-3 this year with a 7.17 ERA. That 7.17 ERA includes seven shutout innings in his lone interleague win as a Brave against the Mariners. He was roughed up for six runs on seven hits, including two homers, in a 9-5 loss in Toronto on Saturday. After allowing one home run in his first nine starts this season, Hudson has allowed nine home runs in his last nine starts. The Braves have lost six of his last seven starts overall, despite five quality starts from him during that stretch. Hudson is 1-0 with a 1.13 ERA in his career against the Astros, allowing only three earned runs in three starts (24 innings pitched). ... Moehler, the former Marlin, moved from the bullpen to the rotation this year for the Astros. He was 0-0 with a 7.04 ERA in five relief appearances this spring. Since moving into the rotation on May 9, he's gone 4-3 with a 3.38 ERA. He had a dominant June outside of one bad start against the Brewers (seven runs in 4 2/3 innings). Otherwise he was 2-1 with a 1.07 ERA (3 ER in 25 1/3 innings).

— Carroll Rogers