'STRO-ING IT AWAY

Astros 3, Mets 2 (HOU: 55-47; NYM: 52-50, 6 GB)

This is not good. I'm mad. The Mets are wasting chances. They had their shot at the division lead, and they blew it. They had a huge chance to make up ground, and they ended up falling further back. And they wasted a great outing by Pedro Martinez* on Thursday night in the game they needed to win against Houston. None of these next three games is going to be easy - they needed to win with Pedro* on the mound.

The Mets dropped two out of three in Colorado - just awful. Granted, the Rockies have played a lot better at home than on the road - but that's not going to stop the Phillies from taking two games this weekend - probably even three or four. The Mets blew it there. Now they have four games in Houston - the Astros have the best record at home in the league.

Thursday night's game was very frustrating. The home plate umpire - I'm not sure who it was - had the tiniest strike zone I've ever seen. It worked both ways, the Mets were getting calls that should have been strikes called balls too, but the umpire forced Pedro* to throw a lot more pitches than he should have had to. In all, he threw 117, and left after 8 innings, with 8 strikeouts. He left a 2-2 tie, Roberto Hernandez pitched the ninth, and gave up a single, sac bunt, and then a gapper to score the winning run.

The problem is, it never should have gotten to that point. The Astros started Zeke Astacio (picture a guy named Zeke....that's exactly what this pitcher looked like. Seriously. He looked like a Zeke.) The Mets loaded the bases against Zeke with no one out in the first. They scored A run. One run. They had the chance to blow the game open early, and didn't. It cost them. Mike Piazza had a good day at the plate, David Wright had a good defensive game, but they both couldn't come through in that first inning. Cliff Floyd, at least, had a sacrifice fly, scoring Jose Reyes (it wasn't even a deep sac fly, the only reason the Mets got that first run was THE GREATEST BALLPLAYER WHO EVER LIVED'S SPEED). Miguel Cairo was the one who took advantage of the short left-field porch to give the Mets a 2-1 lead with a solo homer later on. Piazza, Wright, and Cameron better hit some homers in Houston before the weekend's through.

Pedro* didn't get hit hard. He gave up the two runs, one on a solo homer, then the second on a squeeze bunt by Brad Ausmus.

The Mets need to get the bats going. Carlos Beltran* is becoming a serious problem. I'm starting to think it's a little psychological. I think he knows people are expecting him to have a huge second half, and he's feeling as much pressure as he did to start the season. Just a thought. Cliff Floyd has cooled way off...so much so that he's probably not even going to finish in the top 15 of the Greatest Seasons Ever By A Met. Mike Cameron (I alluded to this earlier in the week) is the least clutch hitter of all time. I wrote that, I think, on Monday. Tuesday night, he struck out with the bases loaded in the seventh inning in Colorado, with the Mets down by a couple, then made the last out with Jose Reyes on second base and the Mets trailing by one in the ninth. That was part of a 4-strikeout night, by the way. Just can't perform in the clutch. He's the last person I want up with the game on the line.

Jose Reyes and David Wright are playing out of their minds right now. Wright has a 15-game hitting streak, Reyes an 11-gamer. They're setting the tables, but no one's finishing the job. I think it's time to throw Cameron down in the six-slot in the batting order, put a decently-performing Mike Piazza back at number five, and put David Wright second. I think Wright's a lot like Michael Young in Texas - and the two slot works well for Young.

Something's gotta happen. The Mets have to start winning games they should be winning. I'm starting to wonder if they even deserve the high expectations I have of them right now. The San Diego Padres team they swept last week is clearly not good - they've lost 9 out of 10, and I think they're now a game below .500 (but still in first place). The Mets need a first baseman. Marlon Anderson is a great pinch-hitter. He is a good infielder. He is a bad first baseman. Jose Offerman is worse. Chris Woodward isn't a lot better. Make up your mind about Doug Mientkiewicz - either use him for his defense and hope he improves on offense, or make a trade. We can't go on with this disaster at first.

I need to go to bed. I'm very upset right now. But I have a couple of other things to mention. One is that I have decided I hate 9:05 pm start times. It only happens, I think, in Colorado. It's too in-between. With the West Coast 10:05 start times, you know what you're getting - a late game. It's 7 o'clock out West. With the 9, they fool you into thinking it's a little early, because it's earlier than 10, but man, those games go late. And they take you (me) out of your (my) game-watching rhythm. Sometimes I forgot to change it back to the Mets when I'd switch around during commercials. Just a very tough thing to get used to. So perhaps that's why I haven't seen a lot of Rockies games this year (or perhaps it's because they friggin' SUCK). But all that said, I have to say, they have a great broadcast team. I really enjoyed watching the Mets-Rockies games on the Rockies feed. Drew Goodman and George Frazier. They were outstanding. I'm going to try watching them some more. They were amusing, but not goofy, they knew their baseball...it was very refreshing.

That's it for tonight. I'm dreading Sunday. Kaz Ishii versus Roy Oswalt. The Mets need another strong outing from Kris Benson Friday night, because we all know he's not going to get a lot of run support.

ELTRAN*'S: 0-for-4 on Thursday, in his return to Houston. He was booed all night. He'd better not expect a much nicer reception at Shea, unless things turn around.
14-55 (.255 AVG.), 2 HR, 10 RBI, 5 Runs, 1 SB

WRIGHT WATCH: 15-game hitting streak includes another double on Wednesday night.
SECOND HALF: 5 SEASON TOTAL: 27 TEAM RECORD: 44

THE KID'S KIDS: I don't know when the record improved, but the Gulf Coast Mets are now 20-9, 5 games up in the division. It looks like they got rained out again on Thursday...but I'm not sure.