Gameday Live 130: Astros at Mets
Mike Gavin here for another night of Mets baseball.
Never fix what isn't broken. With the success the Mets have been experiencing lately, changing their lineup would be like Michael Phelps altering his swimming stroke for the next Olympics. Jerry Manuel originally gave the impression that Luis Castillo would not only be activated tonight, but also start at second base. With the best interest of team chemistry in mind, Manuel opted against tinkering with success, and will stick with the Argenis Reyes and Damion Easily platoon at second until September.
The Mets look to extend their winning streak to five as John Maine opposes Brandon Backe and the Houston Astros in the second game of a four game series at Shea. First pitch is just minutes away......
Top of the 1st: Maine strikes out the first two batters, and Wright makes a nice play on a grounder to end the inning. With the way Santana and Pelfrey are pitching, Maine can really solidify the rotation if he remains consistent.
Bottom of the 1st: Mets go down in order.
Top of the 2nd: The Astros strike first as Lance Berkaman led off with a double and was singled home by Geoff Blum. Astros 1, Mets 0.
Bottom of the 2nd: No signs of life for the Met's bats yet. They go down 1-2-3.
Top of the 3rd: Maine's night may be nearing an end as he allows an RBI-single to Miguel Tejada followed by a three-run home run to Berkman. Astros 5, Mets 0.
Bottom of the 3rd: With three innings in the books the Mets are yet to have a baserunner. The Curse of Luis Castillo is upon them.
Top of the 4th: Maine settles down and escapes without further damage. The breaks have been going the Mets way the past few weeks, they made need a few to get back in this game.
Bottom of the 4th: Perfect game through four innings. Backe is consistently getting ahead of batters and is showing good movement on his pitches. He hardly resembles a man with an ERA over five.
Top of the 5th: David Wright makes a beautiful running backhanded play and managed to make the throw to first as his momentum carried him into foul territory. He may have bought Maine some time with that play.
Bottom of the 5th: Through four innings Brandon Backe looked as if his name deserved to be alongside those of Cy Young, Bob Gibson, Sandy Koufax, Roger Clemens and all the other great pitchers in baseball history. But the Mets finally got to him as Daniel Murphy drew a walk to become the first Met baserunner. Ryan Church drove him home with the Mets first hit of the night. Perfect game, no-hitter, and shutout denied. Astros 5, Mets 1.
Top of the 6th: Duaner Sanchez relieves Maine after he allows a lead-off home run to Newhan and back-to-back singles. The Astros continues to pour it on against Sanchez as Tejada and Berkman hit RBI singles to add to the Astros lead. There hasn't been much to be dissapointed about for the Mets lately but Mama always said there would be days like these. Astros 8, Mets 1.
Bottom of the 6th: A Jose Reyes single is negated by a Argenis Reyes double-play to end the inning.
Top of the 7th: Joe Smith puts the Astros down in order for the first time since the first inning.
Bottom of the 7th: A Carlos Delgado single increases the Met's hit total from a whopping two to three. Sadly, there is nothing else to report.
Top of the 8th: Brian Stokes retires the Astros 1-2-3.
Bottom of the 8th: The sudden power-hitter Brian Schneider hits a two-run homer for the second consecutive day to life Backe from the game and cut the lead to 8-3. Mets had the opportunity to make things interesting but Delgado grounded out to second, stranding Reyes and Wright. Astros 8, Mets 3.
Top of the 9th: Yet another 1-2-3 inning for the Mets bullpen. Last chance for the Mets.
Bottom of the 9th: Church hits into a double-play to end a frustrating night. The Mets were due for a night like this. After a season of streaky baseball, their ability to bounce back from a loss of this nature rather than let it interupt their recent momentum may very well determine their playoff chances. Final Score: Astros 8, Mets 3.
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Comments (4)
wow that's impressive.. i just got home and checked the blog to see what went on and i find out i wasn't even here and the impostor used my name... that's a new kind of pathetic!
but i don't go to your live blog... maybe you should grow up
well then i guess they would know.. or not, because the five posters from this site have no way of knowing that for sure. it's not true, and the moderator from our site said that people don't generally go from site to site, just the troll. the troll just likes using names to piss people off. the five posters from this site are probably being trolled too. it's just annoying, so i don't get why we can't all get along and leave each other alone. i promise you it's not me who trolls the yanks site- i have plenty of good friends who are yanks fans and better things to do with my time.
ok guys. your middle school bullying has worked. i have better things to do with my time than argue with small minded people like all of you. i'm done with newsday's blog (they can thank their blogs who don't register names), and all of you. grow up and maybe you'll all amount to something in life. so long.. maybe now you'll see that the trolling will continue and it actually wasn't me.