Game 39: Astros 7, Mets 3

He's El 2,000 now.

Sometimes when nothing is working, it will all make sense, if just for a little while.

The Astros sure didn't look like the worst team in the National League on a bright, sunny Saturday afternoon as they opened up another quick lead and actually held onto it this time, shellacking the New York Mets 7-3 in the second game of the series at Minute Maid Park.

The batters jumped quickly on R.A. Dickey's seemingly ineffective knuckler, starting with leadoff man Michael Bourn who opened the game with a triple to deep right. Clint Barmes hit a grounder to Jose Reyes to bring Bourn in, and the route was on. The home team put four runs on the board in their half of the first, getting contributions from everyone in the lineup save Humberto Quintero. Three solo home runs by Bill Hall (?!), Matt Downs, and Carlos Lee, respectively, gave the Astros their final run total of seven. J.A. Happ gave up 2 runs on 5 hits in 6 full innings and got the win, raising his season record to 3-4. The bullpen made it through with nearly a clean slate, as Fernando Abad and Wilton Lopez combined to hurl two hitless innings. Mark Melancon surrendered a run to Reyes on an RBI single. The final score: 7-3.

These are the games that are particularly comforting to win. After staking out a 4-0 lead for the second consecutive day, the Astros needed a stabilizing victory in the worst way on Saturday. At first, it looked like the Mets would come back and spoil things all over again, as they slowly chipped the lead down to 4-2 after a few frames. However, Happ made his pitches and got outs when it counted. Look, I don't like J.A. Happ, and all of the readers of this blog know that. I never thought he was good enough to be the main trade chip in the Roy Oswalt deal. He falls behind hitters at an alarming rate, is a fly ball pitcher, and doesn't seem to have a dominant pitch in his repertoire. However, he's almost brought his season record up to .500, and frankly, he's an average 4th starter for a National League rotation, which in the end, is good enough for this ball club. I only hope this doesn't turn into a deal where management holds down a prospect in the minors (I'm not suggesting Jordan Lyles here...okay maybe I am...) because they are afraid of ceding Happ's spot in the rotation. I understand that by no means should Happ be moved down at this point, but I have no trouble seeing a forthcoming season in which he turns into the new Nelson Figueroa and is wholly ineffective for a year. For now though, just keep doing what you're doing J.A.

It's rather comforting to see Carlos Lee get back into a bit of a groove. Lee collected his 2,000th career hit on Saturday by knocking an RBI single in the first inning off Dickey. After another atrocious start to the season, Lee has come out of the slump a bit earlier than usual and raised his season average to .245 by collecting two hits. I still can't wait to dangle him as trade bait come July, but for that to happen, he needs to keep producing big time at the plate. The conundrum that presents itself is that he's going to have to hit really well for a contender to be willing to eat even part of his massive contract, and if he's producing in that range, the veteran-loving front office (assuming it's still the same people by that time) might be afraid to let him go. Let's face it, homers and runs sell tickets, and I'm not so sure that the Astros brass is going to be willing to give away that revenue, opting instead to letting Lee finish out his contract in Houston. Again, that's if he's producing well at the plate. However, they had no qualms in trading the vastly more popular Lance Berkman for peanuts, so a Lee trade is definitely plausible.

Lastly, I'm still a little skeptical about this whole Mark Melancon as closer thing. Look, if I had been Brad Mills, I would have selected Melancon as my closer at the time too. However, he's not exactly a lights out guy, and I feel like every time I've seen him pitch since he's inherited the role, hitters are getting a vast amount of contact off of him. The fact that Reyes drove in a run against him in the ninth may seem moot in a game in which the lead is 5 runs, but what if that would have been a one run game? We would have had another blown save on our hands. My advice to Mills: don't designate a closer just yet. I'm a huge supporter of set roles in the bullpen, as I feel it helps guys mentally prepare for and master their respective jobs, but that's only if you have enough competent pitchers to fill each role. Sadly, the Astros do not have that luxury. For now, use Melancon a couple times. Throw in Lopez if the matchups look right. Maybe even try Jeff Fulchino. Frankly, I think Melancon is just too young for this role right now, and needs to get more acclimated to being in the 'pen every day. All in all, he's pitched fine as of late, and there's really no reason to panic...yet...

Aneury Rodriguez closes up the series against Chris Capuano tomorrow at 1:05.