John Maine had a really bad start going 5.2 innings and giving up 8 runs. He still doesn’t have the velocity on his fastball that he had in the first half of the season.
Ryan Church looked good in his comeback going 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored. And Brian Schneider hit another homer tonight. He’s really finding an offensive groove right now.
The Phillies won today so the Mets are only 1.5 games up in the division with a series in Philly coming up next week.
Luis Castillo, set to return for the Mets tonight, volunteered to stay on the disabled list for a few more days. Jerry Manuel told reporters last night that Castillo would start tonight’s game.
You have to wonder what’s going on here. Clearly, Manuel and Mets fans have liked the Damion Easley–Argenis Reyes tag team at second base since Castillo went on the disabled list.
Castillo can’t play any more rehab games under league rules. And he’s already back in New York. So, this leaves us wondering what the plan is. Who knows?
The Mets announced that the front office staff will be moving into their new offices at Citi Field on September 18th. It’s the start of the transition that the Mets are making away from Shea Stadium.
That’s really exciting news. I know there’s a lot of sentiment out there about the demise of Shea. But moving into Citi Field is going to be a fantastic experience for those of us that sit in the stands.
Flickr photo courtesy of Joe Shlabotnik
Former Mets pitching coach Rick Peterson and Sports Illustrated baseball writer Jon Heyman join WFAN’s Mike Francesa at Bar A.
Houston Astros (64-64 Road: 30-36) at New York Mets (72-57 Home: 40-23) 7:10pm
Brandon Backe (7-12 5.62) vs. John Maine (10-7 3.82)
What to watch: The Mets go for their fifth consecutive win today with Luis Castillo back from the disabled list and starting at second base. Maine hasn’t lost a game in more than a month, since July 18th. But his velocity has been down lately which bears close watching. Backe got rocked in Houston in his last start for 11 runs over 5.2 innings. Lets’ hope he has another start like that tonight.
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Luis Castillo will return from the disabled list. He hasn’t played since July 2nd due to a hip flexor. Manager Jerry Manuel told reporters yesterday that he’ll also return to the starting lineup tonight against the Astros.
The bigger question is which currently active player will be going off the roster to make room for Castillo. The speculation is surrounding Nick Evans, Brian Stokes, and Argenis Reyes. It would be a shame to see Argenis go back to the minors because he’s played so well in the field and he’s done the little things with the bat. Evans doesn’t look like he’s really ready to be a Major League player yet to me. And it doesn’t make sense to keep him on the bench. I’d rather see him continue to get at-bats in the minors and come back to the Mets when the rosters expand in September.
Mets ace Johan Santana (12-7) threw seven shutout innings giving up eight hits and one walk with five strikeouts. He had a few innings where he had to work out of trouble and ended throwing a season high 121 pitches.
All of the offense came in the first two innings on a David Wright RBI single and a two run homer by Brian Schneider in the second. The Mets only managed four hits in the game but really made them count. Roy Oswalt was outstanding for the Astros tonight pitching eight innings.
Ryan Church made his long awaited return to the team tonight going 1 for 3 with a run scored and hit seventh in the lineup.
Luis Ayala got the call to close the game tonight with Aaron Heilman pitching the eighth. Ayala has quickly moved up the ladder in the bullpen with two good outings.
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