Game 73 Thread. June 19, 2023, 7:10 CT. Mets @ Astros

The Astros have lost four games in a row. In the first three of those, they only managed a total of five runs. And in yesterday’s game, seven runs weren’t enough to win in extra innings.

And when will the Astros win one of those cheesy extra-inning games anyway?

The predicted regression of the AAAA pitchers appears to have begun. Although J.P. France had another strong showing, being the hard-luck loser Friday going 6.2 innings and allowing only two runs, Brandon Bielak and Ronel Blanco each gave up five runs in their outings this weekend. With the offense struggling even more in the absence of Yordan Alvarez, this is a bad harbinger of things to come.

Tonight rookie of the year candidate Hunter Brown goes against grizzled veteran and Astros nemesis Max Scherzer. Scherzer is having a down year at age 38 with a 4.45 ERA. About what tomorrow’s mound opponent Justin Verlander has.

The Mets remain living proof that you can’t just spend your way to baseball success. With one of baseball’s highest payrolls, they are currently just 33-38, almost the mirror image of the Astros at 39-33.

Although for a time it appeared Jose Abreu was finally breaking out, in the last four games, he’s slumping again, slashing .125/.176./188. with a 35% K rate.

For more on this game and the series, check out Kevin’s analysis HERE.

Here are the lineups.