The Mets wound up scoring 4 times in the first, with the big hit coming from Jeff Kent. With the bases loaded and 2 out, Kent went first-pitch hitting and lined a ground-rule double to right to score 2. Coming into that at-bat, he was just 1-for-27 with runners in scoring position. The Astros looked like they were going to battle right back in the bottom of the inning and I thought got the benefit of a bad call when 2B umpire Larry Vanover (who is one of my least favorite umps of all-time) called Kent off the base when he received a throw from Bobby Bo on a force play. Even with the "neighborhood play" in full effect during this era, Vanover called the runner safe despite Kent being off the base by mere inches as he attempted to turn the around-the-horn double play. And of course this prompted Tim McCarver to chime in, saying Kent was "nowhere near the bag" ... even though replays obviously showed the opposite. Despite the controversy, Dave Mlicki battled back to get Luis Gonzalez and Scott Servais to ground out to end the inning, allowing the Astros to score just once.

It wound up being another superb outing from Mlicki, who improved to 2-0 and saw his ERA dip to 1.40. It really seemed like the Mets had regained the starting pitching that made them so dominant in the late 1980s, what with Bret Saberhagen, Bobby Jones and Pete Harnisch all throwing well at the time, too. Gee, I wonder if it holds up...

Ralph also had a few Kinerisms in this one. First, after Tim had just got done announcing the Astros lineup and pronounced all the names correctly, Kiner then called James Mouton "James Morton." And later in the game, the guys were having some fun at the expense of "General Admission," a character dressed up in Civil War garb who shot off a cannon whenever the Astros hit a home run. McCarver said he looked like someone from a Dave Letterman skit, to which Ralph replied, "I think he looks like a loser." I couldn't help but laugh but, damn, that was harsh!