This is getting silly. Three games in this series so far, and they've been decided by a total of four runs. In tonight's instance, it was also decided in the 14th inning, and the Astros lose 3-2.
*The Mets took a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the 8th, and with one out, Angel Sanchez singled home Castro, who was running for Quintero. Jason Michaels was on 3rd base, with Pence up. Pence struck out, and Carlos Lee grounded out to end the inning, with Michaels still on 3rd.
*Still, the drama continued in the 9th when Geoff Blum homered off R.A. Dickey to tie the game up at 2-2. It was Dickey's 8th homer allowed in 119.1IP.
*Things heated up for the Mets in the 10th, when they had the bases loaded with one out. Brandon Lyon got Ike Davis to ground into a fielder's choice, which Brett Wallace correctly chose to throw home, getting Jose Reyes, and Jeff Francoeur lined out to right field to end the threat.
*The Astros managed to get nine retired in a row between the 10th and the end of the 12th before Jason Bourgeois singled to center off Elmer Dessens. And then was promptly caught stealing.
*Gustavo Chacin allowed the winning run by walking two unintentionally, walking two intentionally, and allowing two sac flies. So his unremarkable line was 1IP, 0H/1ER, 0K:4BB.
*Yes, and so the Astros in extra-innings tonight were 2x17.
*Brett Myers continued his 18+ out streak to 25 games, which was nice. He also threw first-pitch strikes to 21 of the 30 batters he faced. Amazingly, the Mets swung and missed at just five of his 110 pitches.
*Actually, of the 237 pitches the Mets saw tonight, they swung and missed at just nine of them. To compare, of the 187 pitches the Astros saw, they came up empty on 20 of them.
*Angel Sanchez, Geoff Blum, and Carlos Lee had two hits each - coming up with six of the eleven hits the Astros collected. Brett Myers and two pinch-hitters (Michaels and Bourgeois) had three.
*Chris Johnson (0x6, K) and Brett Wallace (0x5, 3K) were a combined 0x11 with 4Ks.
*Blum's 9th inning homer was the 96th home run of his career, and the 9th 9th-inning homer he's hit. It's the 3rd homer he's hit in the 9th with one out (or two, for that matter).
*Michael Bourn's 1x5 night dropped his OBP to .325. Which is the same number as his SLG.
*So let's recap the Astros' evening: 51 plate appearances. One walk. One extra-base hit. That's the fewest extra-base hits in a game with 50+ plate appearances since July 3, 2007 vs. Philadelphia (56 PAs, 1HR) - a 5-4 win.
*Tonight's game was the first four-hour game (4:18) of 2010 for the Astros, and just the fourth since the beginning of 2009.
*Pitch Count Hero: Michael Bourn (1x5) - 29 pitches in five PAs.
*Pitch Count Punk: Humberto Quintero (1x3) - six pitches in three PAs. Also not averaging 3+ pitches/PA tonight: Angel Sanchez, Carlos Lee.
*Man of the Match: Geoff Blum. Got the big hit. Maybe his first BH of the season.
*Goat of the Game: Lots of candidates here, but it goes to Gustavo Chacin, whose early inning troubles earned him the L.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
