Myers (10-7) would toss a milestone in the game as he now has pitched six or more innings in all 27 starts this season. The righty also established a new club record for six plus innings appearances at any point in the season, breaking the previous mark of 26 straight games held by Larry Dierker who accomplished the feat on June 20, 1969 to April 17, 1970. The streak for Myers is the longest to start a season since Curt Schilling had 35 straight appearances of at least six innings in 2002 with Arizona.

“Myers had another outstanding outing and put us in a position to win the game,” Astros manager Brad Mills said after the game. “Throwing the ball like he did was outstanding; what he is doing, what he has done and what he was able to do tonight was outstanding.”

The righty would have this to say of his seven innings, six strikeout performance tonight, “I was just following the plan; I just followed what my catcher (Humberto Quintero) put down. He is a smart catcher and followed the plan well and we work well together.” Myer would continue by saying, “A lot of credit goes to him and pitching coach (Brad Arnsberg) and tonight I just tried to follow my plan and execute my pitches.”

On his milestone he had this to say, “It is not a big deal I just try to go out and give the team the best chance to win, I’m not trying to break any records. If it happens it happens, I am not looking too much into it. I am just trying to go out every six days and do the job again. Anything I can do to go out there and help the team win and help the bullpen as much as possible then that is what I am going to do.”

Houston would get on the board early, jumping all over starter Johan Santana (10-9) getting four hits and plating the first two runs. Carlos Lee and shortstop Tommy Manzella were the two key hits to give the Astros the 2-0 lead.

Carlos Lee would hit a two-run homer in the top of the fifth inning over the left field wall to give the Astros a 4-0 lead. That combined with a ‘web gem’ play in the bottom of the third inning to dive to his right and rob Mets starter Johan Santana of a hit was one of the two crucial defensive plays to lead Houston to a win.

“We beat a tough pitcher tonight,” Lee said of the victory. “It was good to be able to win today and now we need to come out tomorrow and keep the momentum going.” The first baseman would continue to say, “Santana had a rough first inning and we took advantage and anytime you have a lead with Myers going out there you know that he is guaranteed to go seven and pitch well for us.”

For Santana it was a tough loss as he has suffered his third consecutive loss this evening. It is only the fourth time in his career that he has dropped at least four straight decisions and only the second time since the 2004 season.

New York would have plenty of opportunities throughout the game to try to cash in on runs and cut into that lead. Rookie Ike Davis laced a double (23) off the right field wall in the bottom of the fourth inning, but two ground outs ended the Mets hopes.  It had seemed as if throughout the night every time the Mets had a man on base Myers would have an answer to shut the offense down.

“The Mets had a runner on base every inning it seemed,” Myers said. “I just tried to make pitches and wanted them to hit the ball at people. If I executed I figured I would be able to get outs, and it just worked out that way.”

New York had left nine runners on base this evening, while over the last five games they have stranded 46 men on bases. The Mets finally scored the first run in the bottom of the eighth inning as second baseman Luis Castillo started the frame with an infield single. Carlos Beltran would move the runner over on a ground ball that was fielded by relief pitcher Wilton Lopez.

Castillo would eventually score on a David Wright single to right field. It had seemed as if hope and a rally would come for the 33,024 in attendance as Ike Davis would hit a single to right field. Sadly Jeff Francoeur trying to hit a home run struck out swinging to leave the runners on first and second for rookie catcher Josh Thole.  Thole would hit a scorching line drive to speedy outfielder Jason Bourgeois to end the inning.

“Everyone wants to step up and get the big hits,” Wright said after the game. “They want to be the guy that steps up and help us win the game, but sometimes that works against you because you try to do too much instead of getting a hit.” On the offensive struggles as of late, “You can’t label one thing as the reason for our struggles. When you look up and down the lineup you see different things and different guys struggling. We have a lot of our key guys out due to injury; combine that with the young players and the guys that are injured; all of that combined is a huge part of our offensive struggles.”

New York hopes to take Game Three of this series, which will take place on Sunday at 1:10 p.m. Houston will send out starter Bud Norris (6-7, 5.03 ERA) to take on the knuckleball of R.A. Dickey (8-5, 2.64 ERA)

If there is anyone in the Mets front office who feels Luis Castillo should remain a Met, their opinion had to have changed after last night. I don’t care if you are a relative of Castillo’, his actions after driving in Ike Davis for a come from behind walk off win proves he hates being here as much as Mets fans hate that he’s here. Talk about irreconcilable differences, there is no reason to put Castillo or Mets fans through this loveless marriage anymore. Let’s do it for the kids. By the way check out Greg Prince’ post on last night’s game at FFIF and tell me you don’t feel like crying. Misery in Winning, that’s Mets Baseball.

Is Wayne Hagin kidding with his gushing praise of Jeff Francoeur ? After Francoeur knocked in David Wright with a Sac Fly in the 2^nd inning, Hagin went Radio Ga-Ga over Frenchy. I’d have given Howie Rose $100 bucks if he slapped Hagin in the head after his ridiculous remarks.

A must read for all Mets fans is Adam Rubin’ 3 part expose of the failings of the Mets under the Skill Sets/Minaya regime.  From reading this series I take it that Jerry Manuel will be fired as soon as the team is mathematically eliminated from contention (even though we all know the season is over NOW)  Minaya will either be caned or reassigned and I’m leaning towards reassignment. John Ricco will be the GM and Wally Backman the manager. The organization will find a way to either deal off Oliver Perez and Luis Casitllo or just release them and that money ($18 mil) will the equivalent of a free agent signing. The organization will make Backman the focal point of the team in order to sell tickets. Will it work? We won’t know until this time next year.

In  Rubin’ report he mentions how little money the Mets have spent on draft picks and in the International market for free agents. I had the pleasure of speaking with Wilbur Miller, a Pittsburgh Pirates fan and a fan poster on Bucs Dugout about the recent leaks of the financial statements of the Pittsburgh Pirates on my THIS CALL TO THE BULLPEN Radio Show last night and one of the items we talked about was the Pirates under the ownership of Bob Nutting and Frank Coonley have spent $23 mil in 2008 and $21.2 mil in 2007 on player development.  The Mets in turn have spent a mere $14 mil the last three seasons on player development. That’s $4mil less than the money they will pay Perez and Castillo combined next season.  After listening to my interview with Miller you tell me who is more optimistic Miller the Bucs fan or me the Mets fan?

With the Mets season kaput and a long cold winter ahead to figure how to save this sinking ship, I ask you dear readers to take a break from Mets baseball to mull over my invitation to play Fantasy Football.

I have started a Fantasy Football League at Yahoo Sports named NO PSL REQUIRED. There will be a live draft on Wednesday September 1^st at 8:30PM ET. This will be a 10 team league and as of this post there are 9 spots left. To join you need the team ID # and password which are:

League name-NO PSL REQURIED

League ID #- 495065

Password-jeffyskillsets

It’s been a frustrating baseball season for us devote` of the Mets, so maybe a switch to some football is the break we need.

Yesterday at the Marriott Marquis in the heart of Times Square, Howard Megdal launched his run to become the General Manager of the NY Mets. Do not be fooled by the recent love letter written in the daily fish wraps, it’s time for old ideas and ways of doing business in Flushing to come to a halt and time for a young man with vision and vigor to take over the regins of the Mets baseball operation, as far as I’m concerned, Howard Megdal is the man to lead us to that goal.

Sure things are all sunshine and seashells but don’t fool yourself Mets fans, the Baltimore Orioles don’t come up on the Mets schedule again for a few years. But isn’t winning grand? Wouldn’t you like to have the feeling of being a Victor every year? Well, then there is only one man who can do that for this organization and that’s Howard Megdal.

Time for some random samplings when complete thoughts just won’t do:

I’m surprised President Obama hasn’t announced that Jim Joyce will be given the Medal of Honor for showing such bravery for fucking up Aramando Galaraga’ perfect game. Sure it’s great that Joyce admitted to this major screw up and it’s admirable that Galaraga gave Joyce some love at home plate, I wonder if the organist at Comerica Park played “Why Can’t We Be Friends” as they had their tender moment. Lost in all this is the fact that a major overhaul of the umpiring system in MLB is needed and needed fast. But we all know the Used Car Salesman will call his Blue Ribbon Committee together (pick out you best bow tie there George Will) they’ll look over the situation and do nothing. It’s the Bud Selig way.

There is enough technology now that using replay in baseball for plays other than home runs should be discussed. However, if MLB did more to train its umpires better and weeded out the suck ass ones (I’m looking at you Joe West, Angel Hernandez and Lance Barksdale) you wouldn’t have the fans clamoring for replays as you do now. Most of it is just knee jerk reaction that has become the American way.

It absolutely sucks that Daniel Murphy injured his knee again in Buffalo as he was taken out on a slide and is done for the year. In a post on Mets Today, Joe Janish puts the blame for Murphy’s injury on the way the Mets Baseball Ops do business:

The Mets’ lack of foresight and reactionary, force-feeding decision-making process are not new — they’ve marked the Omar Minaya era. Is there any logical reason why, when Murphy was in Port St. Lucie, he was officially banned from taking ground balls at any position other than first base? Wouldn’t it have made sense to have him work with someone like Sandy Alomar, Sr., Wally Backman, or Kevin Morgan, on footwork and other techniques around the bag, in a non-competitive situation, while he was down there? If they were serious about making him a “utilityman” and teaching him second base in particular, wouldn’t it have made more sense to keep him in Florida, working intensely and regularly with one of the aforementioned coaches — or an external, short-term hire like Roberto Alomar, Jose Valentin, or a similarly adept and experienced former MLB second baseman? Such an expense is a smart investment for a club with a $140M+ payroll, that is also desperate to develop “trade bait”.

 

That has been the story of Daniel Murphy and the failure of the organization that they have switched him from 3^rd base to 2^nd base to 1^st base to left field and back to 2^nd base all without the proper instruction that he needed. I’ve watched Razor Shines hit fly balls to him time and again at Citi Field but has anyone worked with him on technique like proper use of the drop step and picking up fly balls ? Same with 1^st base, the team finally asked Keith Hernandez to help him out and Murphy was more that conscientious student. Murphy has done everything the organization has asked of him but what has the organization done for Murphy? NOTHING!!!!

Stephen Strasburg beat the Buffalo Bison yesterday, just a prelude to what we are in store for the next 10 years when he joins the Nationals next week.

If Oliver Perez refuses to go to the bushes again today therefore blocking the activation of Jon Niese, I have a way of getting him to go

Last night Kevin Garnett looked old and broken down. Rajon Rondo, maybe his fear of not making free throws, refused to drive to rack-passing up going strong to the basket and passing off to Big Baby for jump shot is beyond wrong it’s almost criminal-Ray Allen was taken out the game by the only officials worse than MLB Umpires, NBA Thieves Refs. But, one thing I’ve learned about these Celtics, just when you think they are a bunch of old broken down hoopsters and your ready to throw dirt on them, they bounce back. I expect a full recovery on Sunday.

Prayers and good thoughts to The Coach

Nice to see Mike Piazza wants to go into the Hall of Fame as a Met and quite frankly he should. Even though I’m not a big Piazza fan (I’ll still take Jerry Grote over him forget the offense Grote was a real leader and was second only to Johnny Bench who I consider the greatest catcher ever, in his era) but it would be nice to see a Mets cap on his HOF plaque.

Just to let you know the Mets are the talk of the town once again. Yesterday before our Babe Ruth game there was more talk of the Barajas walk off than their was about who we were playing. !4 boys some Mets fans some Highlander fans all agreed on one thing, just once in their lives they’d love to hit a walk off homer, not a Little League homer but a real over the fence win the game homer. Same thing last night when I went to a father-daughter dinner-dance at my daughter’s school, the dads some Mets most Highlander were talking about the Mets back to back, catcher to catcher walk off home run wins.

Wayne Coffey has a great story on Highlander trainer Gene Monahan and his fight with throat cancer. Put your fan allegiance aside and pray for Geno.

Hank White takes a pie from Alex Cora after his walk off blast. Who will be the hero today (I Like Ike)

LMillz got caught again with his head down the other night thinking he had a home run when it hit off the wall. Milledge thought it was a grand slam his first in the bigs,  the Pirate and Cubs announcers thought is was gone, the guys who sets off the fireworks and play the music at PNC  Park thought it was gone, but as Milledge styled around second base Alfonso Soriano threw the ball in from left field to shortstop Ryan Thierot which stunned Milledge, as he ran back to 2^nd base Thierot threw to Jeff Baker who tagged Millz out.

When you compare the Mets up the middle versus the Red Sox up the middle the only position the Mets lose out on is second base. Even with a healthy Mike Cameron would you take him over Angel Pagan? Forget a healthy Beltran (I won’t link to the Munchkin’s story but he thinks that the Beltran contract is bad for the Mets, this from a guy who has been mailing it in for the past ten years, who stopped attending the events he writes about, and treats his colleagues like shit. If anything Mike Lupica has been stealing from Mort Zuckerman for years ) and the catchers spot, Theo would be beaming if he had the tandem of Barajas/Blanco behind the plate.

With all the fun and frolic over the last week or so of Mets baseball, when was the last time we saw a Braves team this bad? Maybe back when Ted Turner started they games on TBS at 7:35PM ? I have never seen a Bobby Cox team play so badly, I ain’t complaining, just a bit taken back.

I agree with Christopher Guy of Mets Minor League Blog, it’s time to bring up Dillon Gee and let him start over John Maine.  Not only is Maine hurting physically but these interviews with him are painful to watch, the guy is a mess physically and emotionally . Put him on the 15 day DL and send him to St Lonesome to get his game and head in order and as for the spot on the 40 man roster for Gee, I think it safe to say the Mets can put Kelvin Escobar on the 60 day DL to free up a spot.

I am really starting to worry about David Wright. Forget the home runs he’s not hitting doubles either and the one thing he was doing, getting on base via walks, has dried up as well.  Maybe it time to move him to the 2 hole with Castillo leading off (if the Reyes in the 3^rd spot continues) some kind of shake up with Wright is needed as a lot of Mets fan are starting to feel he’s not the go to guy on this team anymore.

Mets management should do everyone a favor and call tonight’s game now. Not only is raining but it’s cold and the forecast for tonight is for rain and 50 degrees. Folks have to go to work and school tomorrow and if it was a comfortable night you wouldn’t mind but to be cold and wet, I don’t think so. So if you do play the game tonight, be prepared for the national audience to see 25,000 or so empty seats at $iti Field.

Every year the Mets host a welcome home dinner for the club. The dinner is usually held in some high-falutin establishment where folks wear their fancy clothes, eat horses-doovers and are as stiff as M .Donald Grants corpse.

Now I know that is not the place you or I would ever darken a doorway, no for us, real life working men and women Mets fans our Welcome Home Dinner known as AMAZIN’ TUESDAYS is tonight at Two Boots Tavern  at 384 Delancey St on the LES.  For this event the NYC Transit System has provided transportation via the F line to Delancey St or the J, M, or Z line to Essex St and the B or D line to Grand St.

Your host for the evening Mr. Phil Hartman will be on hand to offer you a great exchange program where you give him a baseball card of a Mets player and in turn he buys you a beer. No white wine drinkers here friends!   

The Master of ceremonies for the evening Mr. Greg Prince has a star studded line up of guests to talk Mets baseball on a fine spring evening. The festivities get under way at 7PM, so adorn yourself in your finest Mets threads and join your fellow Mets fans at Two Boots tonight.

Join Steve Keane and Joe McDonald tonight at 9PM ET for another edition of PRO BASEBALL CENTRAL. We will dissect the latest snubs by Bengi Molina and Joel Pineiro of the Mets and we will discuss which way the Mets will now turn to solidify their starting pitching and a front line catcher. We will look at which Mets prospects could rise from a spring training to make the final 25 man roster and a host of other Mets and baseball news,

 

You can join in as well with comments and question by calling in at (646) 595-4462.

 

If you can’t join us live you can download the podcast at The Eddie Kranepool Society, BlogTalkRadio or at our PRO BASEBALL CENTRAL site.

Join Steve Keane and Joe McDonald tonight at 9PM ET for another edition of PRO BASEBALL CENTRAL. We will dissect the latest snubs by Bengi Molina and Joel Pineiro of the Mets and we will discuss which way the Mets will turn to solidify their starting pitching and a front line catcher. We will look at which Mets prospects could rise from a spring training to make the final 25 man roster and a host of other Mets and baseball news,

You can join in as well with comments and question by calling in at (646) 595-4462.

If you can’t join us live you can download the podcast at The Eddie Kranepool Society, BlogTalkRadio or at our PRO BASEBALL CENTRAL site.