The Mets gave up just one hit to Houston on Sunday afternoon, but the Astros managed to make the Mets pay for 9 walks, and took advantage of the Mets resting some regulars to win, 2-1.
Roy Oswalt pitched a great game - he was perfect through 6, until Jose Reyes led off the seventh with an infield hit, and the Mets only scored when Carlos Delgado hit a 2-out homer in the ninth inning off Brad Lidge.
The Astros scored their runs on a bases-loaded squeeze play, and a sacrifice fly (on a nice running catch by Endy Chavez, who started in place of Carlos Beltran - more on him in a minute).
Orlando Hernandez pitched very well for the Mets, despite giving up those 6 walks - he pitched himself out of every jam he got himself into in his 5-and-a-third innings. Guillermo Mota turned in another great relief outing - he's been great since joining the Mets.
The Mets rested David Wright along with Beltran, and the offense suffered - mustering just 4 hits - all after the sixth inning. I still haven't seen the catch Beltran made on Saturday, but I keep hearing that it was an amazing, game-saving catch. And Beltran definitely hurt his knee (I wrote on Saturday that he might have hurt his knee), but I haven't heard much about it on Sunday other than the fact that it's not as bad as it originally looked.
The Mets return home Monday for a series with the Braves. Unfortunately, with the Magic Number not at 6 or below, the Mets will not have a chance to clinch the division against the Braves. But they can send one final message to Atlanta before being crowned division champs - and then when they visit Atlanta in the final week of the season, the Mets will be division champs. Steve Trachsel pitches for the Mets on Monday, and he has a chance, believe it or not, to become the National League leader in wins. That's just awful.
MAGIC NUMBER: The Braves had a real chance to help out the Mets, but blew it. Atlanta scored three times in the top of the ninth of game 1 of their doubleheader with Philadelphia, then gave up the game in the bottom of the ninth. The Magic Number could have gone down by as many as three Sunday, instead it went down 1, as the Braves thankfully won the nightcap of the doubleheader in 11 innings.
Hopefully the Braves suffer major pitching repercussions from these back-to-back doubleheaders as they come to New York (it wouldn't hurt if the Phillies lost a lot this week, too, because of the amount of baseball they've played this weekend!).
It should be noted that we should be watching the Marlins in the coming days too, because the Phillies are now just a half-game ahead of Florida in the standings, and that could have an effect on the magic number.
Stay tuned for the Magic Number Final 10!!!
MONTHLY BREAKDOWN: I forgot to post this Saturday, but the Mets finished the month of August with their best record yet:
April: 16-8
May: 16-12
June: 15-12
July: 16-9
August: 19-9
August was a good month, and I don't expect the Mets to do as well in September, what with all the new faces that are bound to be playing after call-ups, but it sure would be nice to see this team reach 100 wins.
THE KID'S KIDS: Vero Beach swept a doubleheader from St. Lucie on Sunday, ending any hopes the Mets had of winning the second-half title. But the Mets are the first half champs, so there will be some post-season baseball - I'll let you know when it is, when I figure it out. Minor league post-seasons are complicated.
Remember, last year with the Gulf Coast Mets Hall of Famer Gary Carter won the regular season title, then lost the championship series to the Tampa Yankees. Hopefully he does a better post-season job this year.
ALFONZO'S COMEBACK: Another 0-for-3 for Edgardo Alfonzo, he's now hitting .246, and I fear, with 1 game left for the Tides, there is only one game left for Alfonzo as a member of the Mets organization. Although, I guess there will always be room for him as a coach, considering almost every other member of his family is employed by the Mets.
****YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE: Please note that there was a Saturday posting (a rarity, that's why I want to draw your attention to it), and I don't care if you read the whole post or not, but I'd like you to at least sign up for the football pick 'em league on yahoo!. The information is in either the post below or on the Jets site. Thanks.
1 comment:
Pick 'Em says I need a "group number" not "group name"
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