Hampton Blasts Santana, Astros Win 5-4

The New York Mets and the Houston Astros started off the game 1-1 and all was fine until a very depressing fourth inning when pitcher Mike Hampton hit a 2-run homer off of Johan Santana.

The Mets’ ace had a horrible outing at Minute Maid Park allowing 12 hits (tying his career high) and collecting his 8th loss on the season. Santana has now lost three of his last five starts.

In the first inning, David Wright drove in his first RBI since July 12th, and (get this) only his third RBI in all of July. But followed that up with 2 walks.

In the fifth inning Luis Castillo drove in Angel Berroa and Jeff Francoeur followed up with two more RBIs. However, the Astros answered and drove in two runs in the bottom of the fifth to make the score 5-3.

Omir Santos homered in the sixth and that would be the last run of the night.

Francoeur took a beating in the seventh inning after being hit with a pitch and later a collision at the plate, where he ultimately failed to score.

The Astros took the win, 5-4 over the Mets. It’s more than fair to say Houston owns the Mets when we play at Minute Maid Park. The Astros have won seven out of the last nine games played on their home turf.

Nothing pretty here. Does it get any sadder than watching Johan give a home run up to the opposing pitcher? Is it those black jerseys again? What else is there to say…