postGame: Mets 3 Astros 0
The Mets (72–57) defeated the Astros (64–64) by the score of 3 to 0 in Shea Stadium tonight.
For a recap, boxscore, stats, etc., from tonight’s win, go to SNY.tv.
Johan Santana was stellar tonight pitching seven scoreless inning while throwing a season-high 121 pitches. Although he gave up eight hits over his seven innings, Santana looked in control tonight. Santana improved to 3-0 with a 1.48 ERA this month and is now 27-6 with a 2.31 ERA during his career in the month of August.
Aaron Heilman followed Santana and pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning, looking strong doing so. Keep it up, Aaron. The team needs you.
With Heilman pitching the eighth, it was left up to a pumped up Luis Ayala to get the save in the ninth. Since joining the Mets, Ayala has pitched three scoreless innings while giving up one hit. I’m not sure if anyone has ever researched this, but I would be curious to see if a player’s performance improves once being traded from a sub .500 team to a team in a pennant race.
Ryan Church returned to the lineup, collecting an infield single before the slugging Brian Schneider hit a two-run homerun to give the Mets three-run lead. Good thing he did, since Roy Oswalt retired the final 20 batters he faced.
The Mets have now won 10 of their last 11 games and remain 2.5 games in front of the Phillies.
The Mets continue their four-game series with the Astros tomorrow night in Shea Stadium starting at 7 pm, with John Maine taking on Brandon Backe.
