Mets Geek » Blog Archive » Daily Mets Recap: August 23rd, 2008

Los Mets celebrated Fiesta Latina night at Shea Stadium by defeating Los Astros de Houston 3-0 on Friday night. The Mets have now won 10 of their last 11 games and maintain a 2.5 game lead over the second place Philadelphia Phillies.

Santana v. Oswalt had all the makings of a pitchers duel and both pitchers held up their end of the bargain. After Santana ended the top of the first by striking out Lance Berkman on the 11th pitch of the at bat, the New York offense continued their impressive run of scoring in first innings. Jose Reyes lead off with a single, advanced to second on a wild pitch, moved over to third on a sac bunt, and came around to score on a David Wright bloop single.

The feel good vibes in Queens continued in the bottom of the second as the Shea faithful welcomed back right fielder Ryan Church who had not played since July 5th with concussion related complications. Church was given a huge ovation as he stepped to the plate and the cheers grew louder as he legged out an infield hit. Church was saved from having to run hard around the bases as Brian Schneider and his new found power blasted a two run homer off Oswalt to give New York a 3-0 lead. It was a good thing the Mets got to Oswalt early because he was flat out dominant from the third inning on. Oswalt would pitch an eight inning complete game while retiring the last 20 Mets in the process.

Meanwhile, Johan Santana was doing what Johan Santana does…. quietly shutting down the opponent while scattering hits and stranding runners on base. Santana threw a career high 121 pitches over seven shutout innings while allowing eight hits and one walk to go with five strikeouts. Met manager Jerry Manuel turned to Aaron Heilman and Luis Ayala who each pitched perfect innings to close out the Astros and secure the 3-0 win. John Maine, who has somehow already thrown 45 pitches in Saturday night’s game, will look to continue the Mets’ winning ways on Saturday as he faces off against Brandon Backe of the Astros.

The Haiku

Schneider hits one out
Santana outdoes Oswalt
Ayala: Godsend?

The Boxscore

Houston	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Wigginton, LF	4	0	2	0	0	0	0	.304
Loretta, 2B	3	0	1	0	1	0	2	.271
Tejada, SS	4	0	1	0	0	1	3	.285
Berkman, 1B	4	0	1	0	0	1	3	.328
Blum, 3B	4	0	1	0	0	0	2	.234
Pence, RF	4	0	1	0	0	1	1	.260
Erstad, CF	4	0	1	0	0	1	1	.294
Ausmus, C	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	.226
a-Bourn, PH	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.225
Oswalt, P	3	0	0	0	0	3	2	.160
b-Newhan, PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.200
Totals	35	0	8	0	1	8	17
a-Struck out for Ausmus in the 9th. b-Grounded out for Oswalt in the 9th.
BATTING 2B: Erstad (15, Santana), Tejada (28, Santana). TB: Wigginton 2; Loretta; Tejada 2; Berkman; Blum; Pence; Erstad 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Oswalt 2; Blum; Berkman 2. Team LOB: 9.

NY Mets	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Reyes, J, SS	4	1	1	0	0	0	0	.300
Reyes, A, 2B	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.264
Wright, 3B	3	0	1	1	0	0	0	.295
Delgado, 1B	3	0	0	0	0	1	1	.260
Beltran, CF	3	0	0	0	0	1	1	.270
Murphy, LF	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	.380
Heilman, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Ayala, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Church, RF	3	1	1	0	0	0	0	.308
Schneider, C	3	1	1	2	0	1	0	.257
Santana, P	2	0	0	0	0	2	0	.136
Chavez, LF	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.272
Totals	27	3	4	3	0	6	2
BATTING HR: Schneider (5, 2nd inning off Oswalt, 1 on, 1 out). TB: Reyes, J; Wright; Church; Schneider 4. RBI: Wright (99), Schneider 2 (27). S: Reyes, A. Team LOB: 1.

Houston	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Oswalt (L, 11-9)	8.0	4	3	3	0	6	1	4.23

NY Mets	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Santana (W, 12-7)	7.0	8	0	0	1	5	0	2.64
Heilman (H, 14)	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	5.40
Ayala (S, 1)	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	0	5.49

WP: Oswalt.
Pitches-strikes: Oswalt 102-75, Santana 121-86, Heilman 17-9, Ayala 11-10.
Ground outs-fly outs: Oswalt 9-9, Santana 6-10, Heilman 2-0, Ayala 1-0.
Batters faced: Oswalt 28, Santana 30, Heilman 3, Ayala 3.
Umpires: HP: Mark Wegner. 1B: Wally Bell. 2B: Sam Holbrook. 3B: Chad Fairchild.
Weather: 74 degrees, partly cloudy.
Wind: 8 mph, In from RF.
T: 2:18.
Att: 52,008.
August 22, 2008

Box score official statistics approved by Major League Baseball Office of the Commissioner