New York in July

John Maine shut out the Astros last night on just 98 pitches, none of which hit anyone, and the Mets piled on 7 runs to take the first game from the Astros (7-0). Houston has plenty of room for improvement today and tomorrow in all categories, from scoring runs, to hitting, to getting on base via the plunk.
Orlando Hernandez is the Mets scheduled starter today (really this time... I think). He'll be looking to hit his 8th batter of the season and the 58th of his career. Hernandez has never hit Craig Biggio with a pitch. Biggio's only prior plunk on this date came on July 22, 1990 when Mark Gardner through plunk number 7.
Tomorrow the Astros will face rookie John Pelfrey who will be making just his 3rd career start. Pelfrey has faced only 49 major league batters, but he did hit one of them. On July 23, 1994 Steve Cooke plunked Biggio for the Pirates, and on July 23, 2002 Jamey Wright plunked Biggio for the Brewers. The Astros won both of those games.