Mets 10, Astros 1

During this season of general offensive ineptitude, the Mets have managed to occasionally pull together and put some runs on the board for Al Leiter. Five times the team has scored ten runs and in all but one of those games, Leiter has been the team's starting and the game's winning pitcher. Tonight Leiter continued his string of post-DL effective efforts, giving up just one run in six innings on five hits. Once again his number of walks was less than stellar, as he walked four over those six innings, but he did manage six strikeouts. His ERA in four starts since returning from the disabled list is just 1.08 but his healthy 7.9 strikeouts per nine innings come with 5.0 walks per nine. And while his WHIP is down from the ungodly 1.79 that accompanied him to the disabled list, the post-injury 1.32 is still not pretty. So while the results have been good and his numbers do seem to be coming around a bit, judging from the numbers, he's still got some things to work on if he's going to sustain this success. The increase in the strikeout rate is a big plus if he can keep it up, but those walks and hits need to come down a bit.

Of course, the Met offense had a very nice showing with contribution up and down the lineup, with every starter either getting a hit, driving in or scoring a run. Yep, even Leiter had a single off of the second base bag and scored a run. A three run homer from the slumping Vance Wilson was the big blow in the Mets' seven run fifth inning and Tony Clark blasted his third home run in two games. Jose Reyes went two for four with his eighth double and *gasp* his fifth walk! He's now hitting .287/.302/.392 with eight doubles, four triples and one home run. He's driven in 24 runs and scored 27 and is eight for ten in stolen bases. Roger Cedeno also had another good night, going two for four with a double, two runs and an RBI. Cliff Floyd also doubled and drove in two runs.

Tomorrow it's Aaron Heilman (1-4, 6.93) against Wade Miller (7-10, 4.83).  ¶ joe | 1:24 AM |