Astros 3, Mets 2
Astros 5, Mets 2

The Mets are currently in discussion with certain teams in the American League's Eastern Division to make incredibly amazingly immeasurably unbelievably stupid trades. So I'm going to talk about the games they lost in the last two days. I'll wait until they actually do something before I begin my freaking out in earnest.

So the Mets aren't going to make the playoffs. They can't beat the Colorado Rockies and they can't beat the soft underbelly of the Houston Astros' starting rotation. That makes all that stuff up there even more [insert negative adjective], but I digress.

On Thursday it was Pedro Martinez vs. Ezequiel Astacio. And Pedro did his part. He pitched eight innings on 117 pitches without his arm falling off or costing the Red Sox the pennant. He allowed a mere two runs on four hits and three walks, one of which was intentional. And he added eight more strikeouts to his league-leading total. But that was not quite enough for the New York Mets' offense.

For you see the Mets' bats had the kind of night that lowered Astacio's ERA more than an entire point--To SEVEN POINT ONE SEVEN--over the course of six innings. David Wright had his hit. Mike Piazza hit a double and drew two walks. Miguel Cairo hit the sort of thing that counts as a home run in that stadium they've got in Houston and also singled and walked. Mike Cameron also had two hits and a walk, though he was also picked off of first base and charged with an error on a ball that he may or may not have held long enough before he dropped it taking it out of his glove. But the Mets put together just two runs on seven hits and four walks, and so when Roberto Hernandez gave up hits to two of the first three batters he faced in the ninth inning, the second of which being a double by Brad Ausmus, the Mets lost.

At least on Friday they didn't have the heartbreak of getting a good pitching performance before they lost. Kris Benson gave up three home runs in five and one-third innings, though of course that wouldn't have happened were this game contested in New York. Still, five runs are five runs and it's not like the Mets' offense was coming to bat live via satellite from Shea Stadium. Benson gave up six hits and three walks, though he did striking out six in a surprising development.

The Mets' offense was even worse that the previous night, getting just five hits and two walks. Cairo's double was the only extra-base hit. No one had more than one hit and only Carlos Beltran reached base twice, with a single and a walk. Beltran was one of three Mets to steal a base, the others being Cliff Floyd and Mike Cameron. But still, they got owned by someone named Wandy Rodriguez, who now sports a nifty 5.90 ERA. This team is not a playoff-caliber team, and they're not a player or two away from becoming one.

While Met fans everywhere await Omar Minaya's putting the Mets' farm system out of its misery tonight, the Mets will play and probably lose another game. The Mets are currently four games behind the Wild Card-leading Astros, with four other teams ahead of them, and that will probably get worse once Tom Glavine (7-8, 4.69) has had his say. The Astros will send out Andy Pettitte (8-7, 2.73) to pick up the win.  ¶ joe | 4:20 PM |