HOUSTON – It was a bad mismatch on paper, and the box score looked even uglier.
In one corner, Houston’s All-Star ace Roy Oswalt started the day after the home team had lost a 17-inning, 5-3 thriller to the Mets. In the other, Mets lefty Dave Williams – a fringe major-leaguer to begin with – made his 2007 debut following January surgery for a herniated disc in his neck.
Games aren’t always this predictable, but yesterday’s first-half capper was sealed two innings into Houston’s 8-3 victory.
While the Mets (48-39) lost for the sixth time in eight games and finished their road trip with a 5-6 record, they preferred to look at the bigger picture – which wasn’t nearly as bad.
“We’re probably about in as good a situation and place as you could possibly be,” closer Billy Wagner said. “Yeah, I think we thank our lucky stars that we’re this far.”
The injury-riddled club hit the All-Star break leading the NL East despite no regular left fielder, a depleted bench and two-fifths of the rotation on the disabled list. Willie Randolph called the trip “decent” and said he’s happy where the team is.
“We feel strong about our chances, obviously,” Randolph said. “We’re going to go out and try to prove that in the second half.
“You always want to maintain what you have – and also get better. We feel we’ll get some guys to pick us up a little bit, and guys who have had sub-par first halves will pick it up a little bit and we’ll be ready to rock and roll.”
Oswalt worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the first after allowing hits to the first two men, while Williams allowed three runs in the first – and two more in the second – to prove he was outclassed. Williams, a 28-year-old lefty, surrendered 10 hits and eight earned runs over 31/3 innings.
With two outs in the first, Morgan Ensberg’s two-run single to left-center started the onslaught. Eric Bruntlett followed with an RBI single to right. Both hitters had two strikes, but Williams couldn’t put them away.
In the second, Hunter Pence hit a 400-foot RBI triple and scored on a sacrifice fly. As Roger Federer would say: game, set, match.
But the ugliness wasn’t over. Williams walked Oswalt to begin the fourth and gave up a mammoth two-run blast to left by Chris Burke. He allowed three more hits before leaving. He said he was rushing his delivery and couldn’t slow down.
“I buried us so far that we couldn’t score that many runs,” Williams said.
Leading off the game, Jose Reyes singled to short (he sprinted) and stole second, and David Newhan’s bleeder through the hole at short put runners at the corners.
Then Oswalt showed why he’s an ace. He froze Carlos Beltran on a 94 mph fastball, and David Wright’s shallow fly-out to center couldn’t plate Reyes. The Houston righty walked Carlos Delgado before whiffing Jose Valentin on 94 mph high heat.
“Anytime you can let him dodge a bullet like that, the way he throws the ball, the tone was set that way,” Randolph said.
Beltran hit a two-run homer to right in the sixth and Reyes singled in a run in the seventh.
“Standings-wise, we’re right where we want to be,” Wright said.
“As far as what we’ve done on the field, I think we’re a better team than what we’ve showed at times in the first half.
“I expect this team to step it up and battle it up in the second half and play even better than we did in the first half.”