The Mets look to extend their winning streak to four games tonight as they take on the Houston Astros. Earlier this season, at a key time when the Mets were surging, the Mets looked at a three game series with the Astros as one they should easily win. This wasn't the case as the Astros went on to sweep the Mets. Today, Santana, who pitched well against the 'stros during that series, will try to take this first game.
Johan Santana has been on a tear recently. In his last six games, he is 3-0 with 2 complete games, 46.1 Innings pitched a 1.75 ERA, and 32 strikeouts for 8 walks (yes thats right, a 4:1 strikeout to walk ratio during that stretch). One of those games was against the Astros where he pitched 6.1 innings, allowed one earned run, walked 2 and struck out 3 on his way to a no decision. Over his career, he hasn't made mincemeat of the Astro's current lineup, but he has done fairly well:
Erstad 9-37, 2B
Tejada 10-30, 2B, 2 HR, 5 BB
Wiggington 5-11, 2 2B
Ausmus 0-3
Berkman 0-2
The two players, historically, to watch out for today are Tejada and Wiggington. Personally, I would be more worried about Wiggington who was named the NL player of the week with Santana last week. I am sure that will be mentioned a lot tonight. Santana will need run support, and to do that, the Mets will need to beat up on Roy Oswalt.
Since July 28th, Oswalt has pitched 5 games and has a record of 4-0 over 33 innings pitched with a 3.27 ERA to show for it. His one No Decision was against the Mets where he gave up 4 runs over 6 innings. The Mets over their careers have hit Oswalt pretty well, and should do it again:
Reyes 7-24, 2 2B
Beltran 8-17, 2 2B, HR
Wright 3-17, 2B
Delgado 5-11, 2 2B, HR
Easley 3-8, 2 HR
I am not worried about Wright's numbers after last night. He hit Hampton well last night, despite being a career .111 hitter against him going into the game. With Delgado, lets hope his hitting from last night carries on into tonight as he knows how to hit Oswalt. My prediction is that Manuel has Easley playing second base for this game due to his numbers. (I am leaving to go to NJ soon, so I can't update once the lineups are posted).
As HoJo said in the 1986 Mets Rap, Get Metsmerized, “With Power, Pitching, Speed and Style, Results guaranteed to make you smile.” Lets go for that tonight! Lets Go Mets! As a side note, I will not be in town until late Sunday (but I will be at the game on Sunday, so lets hope the Mets can figure out Randy Wolf).
