ASTROS ARE ONE-HIT WONDERS

Astros 2, Mets 1 (NYM: 84-51, HOU: 67-70)

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.

BILLY GOAT

Marlins 6, Mets 5 (NYM: 63-42, FLA: 50-56)

So much for Billy Wagner's string of impressive outings. One pitch to Josh Willingham, one 2-run homer later, it's a blown save and a Mets loss.

This was a weird game. It almost felt, from the start, like the Mets didn't deserve to win it. In the first inning, THE GREATEST BALLPLAYER WHO EVER LIVED, Jose Reyes, led off with a walk. One out later, Carlos Beltran doubled down the left field line, and Reyes fell rounding third, so he went back to third, Beltran was hung up between second and third, and he was tagged out. Reyes would score on a Carlos Delgado single, but that wasted run seemed ominous.

The Marlins tied it, and this made things seem a bit more ominous. Mike Pelfrey should have been out of this inning, but a fly ball to right landed in front of Lastings Milledge. Not sure how. He should have had it - it was a line drive with lots of hangtime, and he let it drop. No Green Monster in Miami. I'm almost starting to wish the Mets had traded Milledge - he'd better start maturing soon. Of course, the next batter drove the run home, making the Mets pay.

In the third, the Mets took a 2-1 lead, then a 4-1 lead, on Beltran's 33rd homer of the year. It was a little more comfortable, but there was still a ho-hum feeling to the way the Mets were playing.

Pelfrey actually pitched very well in what may have been his last major league start for a while - he went 6 innings, giving up 4 runs (the first should not have been earned), and striking out 4, including the last batter he faced. So he looked good, but the rest of the time the Mets seemed lackadaisical. Very tough for me to explain.

Reyes homered in the seventh inning, and suddenly the Mets were on top again, and Wagner came in to close the door, gave up a single, a sac bunt, then the 2-run homer. And just like that it was over. Such a strange game - it just seemed like the Marlins wanted it more than the Mets. And I hope the Mets realize that, and I hope they come out with more of a killer instinct on Tuesday night. Because they didn't have it on Monday.

Steve Trachsel goes against Ricky Nolasco on Wednesday. Yawn. I bet there's a rain delay too. It always rains on Trachsel.

MAGIC NUMBER: First time in a while there's no change here. Still at 45. Not worth a graphic. The Mets lost, and the 2nd-place Phillies beat the Cardinals.

MORE TRADE INFO: Turns out the Mets were in some serious talks to get Roy Oswalt in a 3-way deal involving the Orioles. The Mets would have gotten Oswalt, the Astros would have gotten Miguel Tejada, and the Orioles would have gotten Morgan Ensberg, Adam Everett, Lastings Milledge, and I think Aaron Heilman (or one of those Mets might have gone to the Astros). But those talks fell apart. I'm glad the Mets didn't give up more than just Xavier Nady, to be honest, but Roy Oswalt would have been an awesome addition. The problem would have been he is a free agent (or up for arbitration at the end of this year, I guess), so there's no guarantee the Mets would have had Oswalt for very long.

MORE TRADE REAX: I caught a little of Mike & Mike in the Morning Tuesday morning, and Mike Greenberg was very critical of the Mets for not making a bigger and better deal. He doesn't think they can win the World Series the way they are constituted right now. I actually agree with Mike Golic, who said that the Mets are in no danger of missing the playoffs - and once they get into the playoffs, anything can happen. He says they had the luxury of sitting back a bit at the deadline, because they aren't looking to make a deal to get into the playoffs like a lot of the other teams were. (Keep in mind, the Mets did fill their need in the bullpen - and who knows what Oliver Perez may offer down the line.)

I also agree with Steve Philips, who refused to criticize his former assistant, Omar Minaya, but said that the Mets were reluctant to give up a lot of talent for a rental player. Which I agree with - why give up the future for just a couple of months, when you're already in pretty darn good shape for the next couple of months. My problem with what Philips said: He talked about how he traded Terrence Long for Kenny Rogers, another rental player, who helped the Mets reach the playoffs, in 1999. But then he became my arch-nemesis, by costing the Mets that same playoffs - in the NLCS, walking Andruw Jones with the bases loaded in extra innings, losing the series. Just awful - throw a strike, Kenny! (Have you noticed how poorly Rogers has pitched since the All-Star break? That always makes me happy.)

HERE'S WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN: I've been thinking, and I think Tom Glavine needs a mysterious Pedro Martinez*-type injury to pop up, landing him on the disabled list for a few weeks. Then, Glavine can come back rested, and pitch like he was pitching at the beginning of the year. I'm no longer worried about Pedro*, because he's basically had a month off to rest his arm. And I think Glavine's struggles are because he's old and tired. He has next year to get his 300th win. This year, he should only count on about 5-7 more wins in late August and September, and worry about getting some post-season wins.

SANCHEZ OUT: As expected, Duaner Sanchez had surgery on his separated shoulder on Tuesday, and WILL miss the rest of the season. There was a slight chance he would not need surgery, but he did wake up on Tuesday in excruciating pain, apparently. What an awful problem for the Mets. You hate when off-the-field stuff affects the team. Apparently the cab Sanchez was in was hit by another car going the wrong way.

THE KID'S KIDS: On Monday night, the St. Lucie Mets beat Daytona, 4-0, behind Brian Bannister's 7 shutout innings, as he rehabs his way back to the Majors. The big series between first-place Daytona and 2nd-place St. Lucie (in the second half of the season, remember) continued Tuesday, with the Mets winning, 5-4. They're just a game behind Daytona now.

Also of note, Tuesday afternoon I saw the 2-Minute Drill on ESPN Classic which featured Hall of Famer Gary Carter asking questions. I'd love for ESPN to bring back 2-Minute Drill. If I were on the show, I think I'd pick the 1986 Mets' post-season as my expert category. Depends how specific you can get with your category.

ALFONZO'S COMEBACK: On Monday, Alfonzo was 1-for-3, with two walks. He upped his average to .205. (I missed the Monday night games due to the early post-surgery posting.)

On Tuesday, another 1-for-3, with one walk, and Alfonzo's average is now .213. Maybe he's finding a groove.

CHASE'S CHASE: Not much drama here - Utley had a hit in his first at-bat, making it 33 games in a row.

BEAT THE STREAK: Lots of drama here, ending with an o-fer for Ichiro. So back to square one. And it being August 2nd, I need this to turn into a 57-game hitting streak, or else it's not worth playing this game the rest of the season. I'll go with Utley to get me started, then it's Vladimir Guerrero Thursday through Sunday, since it's Angels-Rangers, and he's never played the Rangers without getting a hit. (So looks like I'll be ending two streaks before Sunday - Utley's and Guerrero's.)