KTE: Mets vs Houston Astros

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

KTE: The Houston Colt .45s/Astros

The Astros and Mets share a cosmic bond, having been a part of the 1962 National League expansion.
Astros fans must be disappointed.

Let�s review how the teams compare during the 50 years:

World Series wins: Mets 2, Astros 0 Advantage METS

World Series appearances: Mets 4, Astros 1 Advantage METS

Post season appearances: Mets 7, (on edit. Oops) Astros 9 Advantage Astros But they lost so many that it evens out.

All-time stud pitcher: Mets: Tom Seaver, Astros: Nolan Ryan, Advantage METS

Cool former ballparks: Mets: Shea, Astros: Astrodome, Advantage METS

Retired numbers: Mets: 4 (Stegnel, Hodges, Seaver, Jackie Robinson) Astros: 10 (Bagwell, Biggio, Jose Cruz, Dierker, Ryan, Mike Scott, Umbricht, Don Wilson, Jackie Robinson) Advantage: Mets, for showing comparative selectivity.

50th Anniversary patch:




Advantage: METS! The Astros tried to be inclusive of all assorted logos, and left out one of them. Boo! And, technically, the Astros aren't celebrating 50 years, the Houston franchise is!

Retro uniforms:


Advantage, METS, but I do love the rainbow unis.

Home run stadium gimmick based on fruit:
Astros: Train with coal car filled with giant oranges
Mets: Giant apple



Advantage: Mets! But the train is pretty cool. The car was filled with baseballs when the stadium was named Enron Field. Painted orange after the name change, tour guides said people think the oranges are pumpkins.

2012:

The Astros are 8-14 and in last place. They're tied with Cubs, but are likely to suck worse as the season progresses. They're headed to the American League next season. Ick.

CF:
Astros: Jordan Schafer, .359, 2, 8
Mets: Andres Torres !

Advantage: Astros, as Schafer as demonstrated that he can last an entire game. Look for Torres to injure himself on Tal's Hill

2b:
Astros: Jose Altuve, .377, 1, 10
Mets: Murph!

Advantage: Mets! Oh sure, Altuve is an MVP candidate, and can play the position. But I like Murphy.

SS:
Astros: Jed Lowrie, .268, 1, 3
Mets: Ruben!

Advantage: Mets!! Ruben had 10 hits in the Rockies series

LF:
Astros: JD Martinez, .297, 3, 19
Mets: Kirk!!!

Advantage: Mets!!! Kirk is a monster!

RF:
Astros: Travis Buck, .333, 0, 4
Mets: Duda!!!

Advantage: Mets!!!

First Base:
Astros: Matt Downs, .200, 0, 1
Mets: Ike!!

Advantage: Mets! Even slumping, Ike is better than this guy!

Third Base:
Astros: Chris Johnson, .275, 0, 8
Mets: David!!!

Advantage: Mets!

Catcher:
Astros: Jason Castro, .244, 0, 6
Mets: Josh!

Advantage: Mets! Josh had a big homer on Sunday!

Pitchers
Astros: Bud Norris, 1-1, 5.84
Mets: RA Dickey!!!!

Astros: JA Happ, 1-1, 4.70
Mets: Niese!!!

Astros: Wandy Rodriguez, 2-2, 1.72
Mets: Chris Schwinden

Advantage: Mets!!! I'm not sure about Schwinden, but Dickey and Niese are going to pound these guys.

Cool Houston facts: There's a whole underground network of downtown tunnels that allow Houstonians to escape the heat. That's where most of the stores are. Sadly, on my first visit I didn't learn about them until the cab driver told me about them on my way to the airport.

Cool Minute Made Park facts: If you are on the stadium tour, and you are the only person on the tour, they let you do all kinds of cool things like play with the phones in the bullpen and the hand-operated scoreboard!

[dinosaur jesus]

Great writeup. These are the guys the Mets were supposed to be as bad as this year, and I really want to prove it isn't true.

I love those underground cities. They're like what the mole men would build if they got rich off selenium or something and went into real estate. When I'm down in one of them, it feels like I could be anywhere--like if I turned a corner and went up a ramp I might be in Houston instead of Toronto.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I'm glad we're hitting a little because all 3 guys the Astros will use this series are capable pitchers. I will never forgive Happ for ruining the 4th of July of 2008 (I think). Not only did he beat Santana, but Lunchpail was overwhelmed by fireworks and yakked all over the couch that night. Ask Edgy, Lunch Jr. puking on you is no fun.

[Guest The Second Spitter]

Home run stadium gimmick based on fruit: Astros: Train with coal car filled with giant oranges Mets: Giant apple

What rode in the coal car before Minute Maid took over the corporate sponsorship? Dick Cheney?

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

There were baseballs in there. The oranges are the baseballs painted orange.

[Benjamin Grimm]

What, they were too cheap to get real oranges? I blame Jeff Wilpon!

[smg58]

They still have Rhiner Cruz, who they took from us in the Rule V Draft. He has a 2.08 ERA after 8.2 innings -- not bad for a guy who hadn't pitched above A-ball -- but he's dealing with an ankle injury at the moment.

F-Mart is at AAA, and so far swinging the bat well (.318/.379/.518).

[Gwreck]

Looks like we might miss Carlos lee, who sprained his ankle on Friday. Hard to believe Carlos is finally in the last year of that $100 M deal he signed with Houston six years ago. I wouldn't have guessed he was a 4.6 WAR player last year.

[Fman99]

Nice write up. I appreciate your enthusiasm for the Mets' clear superiority over these has-beens and never-wases.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Post season appearances: Mets 6, Astros 9 Advantage Astros But they lost so many that it evens out.

You shorted the Mets there. They've had seven post-season appearances: 1969, 1973, 1986, 1988, 1999, 2000, and 2006.

[Gwreck]

The Mets have only lost in the first round once in their seven post-season appearances (88 LCS).

The Astros lost in the first round of the playoffs in each of their first seven post-season appearances.

[Frayed Knot]

Jose Altuve [Al-Too-VAY] is a pretty good player ... especially so considering he's like 4' 6"

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

I kinda want an Altuve for Father's Day. Y'know, just to have around the house, whacking low-lying shelves and loose nails into place, and retrieving stray pieces of clothing as they drop, before they hit the floor.

[Edgy MD]

I think metsguy broke his exclamation point key by the end there.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Ask Edgy, Lunch Jr. puking on you is no fun.

Promise me we'll never speak of this again.

[Edgy MD]

smg58 wrote: They still have Rhiner Cruz, who they took from us in the Rule V Draft. He has a 2.08 ERA after 8.2 innings -- not bad for a guy who hadn't pitched above A-ball -- but he's dealing with an ankle injury at the moment.

It seems like a good way to grab a guy through the Rule V draft if he'll cooperate. Give him 10 innings in April, diagnose him with an ankle sprain and put him on the DL most of the rest of the season, bringing him back in September. He gets a big-league salary, and he can play in AAA the next season. If you're worried his talent is stagnating during the fake injury period, send him to Korea to play under a fake name.

[TransMonk]

Good work, MGIM!

[Frayed Knot]

Wandy the lefty against Schwinden in Wednesday's day game/get-away day is an iffy proposition at best.
Would like to have the first two in our pockets going into that game.



The Astros oddly have a +3 RS/RA number so far this year despite their lousy record.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

Post season appearances: Mets 6, Astros 9 Advantage Astros But they lost so many that it evens out. You shorted the Mets there. They've had seven post-season appearances: 1969, 1973, 1986, 1988, 1999, 2000, and 2006.

Yikes. I forgot 1988. I purged that one from my memory.

[MFS62]

KTE: The Houston Colt .45s/Astros Cool former ballparks: Mets: Shea, Astros: Astrodome, Advantage METS

Nice KTE.
But this one was not always true. I remember when it seemed like they could mess with the air conditioning at the 'Dome to blow their fly balls over the fence. And THAT was an advantage.
Later

[Frayed Knot]

Altuve also has been, on and off anyway, the youngest player in the NL since his debut last July.
He was the youngest to play in the NL this season until this past weekend. First hIs teammate Jordan Lyles, who is a few months younger, took that title although the Astros sent him back after a brief one-start promotion.
And then the Nats promoted Bryce Harper who is a full 2 years + 5 months younger!

[G-Fafif]

Always love MGIM's Metcentric view of everything.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

Thanks, guys! I'm glad you enjoyed.

I kind of like the Astros, as far as opposing teams go. I really loved sneaking into the Astrodome a couple years ago, and I had a ball touring Minute Maid Park. I've never been able to see a game there, but the behind the scenes peek was great fun.

Secret fact: The grass in the bullpens is turf, and the turf came from the Astrodome! It extends right into the bullpen bathrooms.

About the only places we didn't go on the tour are the clubhouses -- it was the final week of the season, though the team was on the road -- and Tal's Hill.

I bought a sweet, unstructured orange cap with the blue star logo, and a little thing of dirt from the batter's box. Allegedly.

The former train station incorporated into the park is pretty neat.