Wounded NY Mets Come to Houston

New York is in Houston this weekend for a 3-game series and the Astros are seeing a team who is a shell of who they should be.  Of course, being a lifetime Astros fan, I have no problem with the Mets having problems winning.

I have not been a Mets fan since 1986 and I do not expect that I will ever be a Mets fan.  Every time they crash and burn is a good time for me. So forgive me if I don’t feel sorry for the other team from New York.  Or don’t forgive me.  I really don’t care.

That being said… I think the Astros will lose tonight.  Why?  They have to face one of the best pitchers in the game: Johan Santana.  He’s 11-7 this season with a 2.92 ERA.

The Astros can win this game if they can get Santana benched. Johan is averaging 6.5 innings per start, so he probably won’t pitch a complete game tonight.  That means that the Astros will get the relief core and the Mets relievers have a 3.65 ERA.  That isn’t a terrible stat, but they are beatable.  In the last 30 days, they have had a 3.78 ERA.

There is another issue though.  Mike Hampton is pitching tonight.  He has been pitching well lately, but I hold my breath whenever he takes the mound.  If the good Hampy shows up, we have a shot.  If the bad Hampy shows up, it isn’t going to matter when Santana gets pulled.

Slew of Injuries

The Mets have 11 people on the DL; one less than the Padres.  And we aren’t talking about backup players.  They have big time starters on the bench.  No chance for Carlos Beltran to be booed.  Their first baseman is some unknown while Delgado is recuperating.  Two of their three closers are out, so no chance for the fans to cheer Billy Wagner.  Two starting pitchers are out.  And the list goes on.

This is not their year.  And yet, they are still trying to trade for Halliday.  Either they think they have a shot at the Division once they start getting some of these players back, or Omar Minaya is even more idiotic than I thought he was.

Just Perfect

Congrats to Mark Buehrle on his perfect game yesterday.  I was especially thrilled as I picked him up for my fantasy team off of waivers at the beginning of the season.  I got 15.5 points yesterday from one player.  The phrase of the day was “suck it”.