Astros Back In Win Column, Beat Mets 4-1

In the midst of the biggest youth movement in years, it was the two players in the over-30 crowd who powered the Astros in Saturday night's victory over the Mets.

Brett Myers threw seven innings of shutout ball, striking out six and walking one while allowing six hits. Lee staked Myers to a two-run lead in the top of the first inning with an RBI single with runners on first and second. Tommy Manzella followed with another RBI single with the bases loaded two batters later.

After that, Myers didn't allow more than one baserunner in an inning and no runner reached third base with him on the hill. The Mets finally got on the board with a run off the previously unhittable Wilton Lopez. Every Day had a little trouble in the eighth inning before Tim Byrdak got the final out of the frame. 

Of course, Carlos Lee's two-run homer in the fifth made the Mets' late rally moot. Lee's blast was just another sign in how well the Astros were hitting Johan Santana. Houston picked up eight hits off him, including four runs and only struck out four times. That included a three-hit night for Tommy Manzella and a two-hit night for Jason Bourgeois. The Astros only walked once off the Mets pitching staff but it was the fourth time in the last six games that the Astros have totaled at least 10 hits. 

That's also six wins in the last seven games for Houston and assured that the Astros would have a .500 record for the third straight month. The Astros are also 11 games under .500 for the first time since....well, Thursday. Before that, though, it was May 16th, when the Astros were a robust 13-24. So, there is progress. It's just been sloooow.