Jonathon Niese was called up from Triple-A Buffalo to replace the injured Fernando Nieve in the starting rotation. If he continues to pitch like he did tonight, he might not have to go back anytime soon.
After a rough first inning, Niese settled down and pitched beautifully for six additional innings. The offense came alive and the long ball returned to the Mets as they defeated the Astros 10-3 at Minute Maid Park.
After three first inning runs against Astros’ starter Russ Ortiz, Houston came back with a run of their own by drawing two walks followed by an RBI single by Pudge Rodriguez. That was the extent of the Astros’ offense tonight as Niese dominated them for the next six innings.
The Mets launched three home runs to support their neophyte starter. Solo homers by Omir Santos and David Wright (the sixth for each player and Wright’s first home run since June 30 in Milwaukee) and a three-run homer by Jeff Francoeur (his seventh) were more than enough for Niese, who pitched seven strong innings, giving up one run on four hits, while walking two batters and striking out three. The power surge by the Mets over the past two games (half of their eight home runs hit in July have come in the past two games) is enough to put Con Edison on their toes.
Jeff Francoeur continues to swing a red-hot bat since being traded to the Mets two weeks ago. He now has 12 RBI in his 11 games as a Met, to go along with a sizzling .333 batting average (15 hits in 45 at-bats). The man he was traded for, Ryan Church, is only hitting .200 (6 for 30) with four RBI.
Once Niese’s night was done, Sean Green pitched a scoreless eighth inning and Francisco Rodriguez pitched the ninth, giving up a two-run homer to Hunter Pence before getting out of the inning without any more runs scoring. However, he did need 30 pitches to get through the inning in a non-save situation. Hopefully, the Mets can repeat tonight’s fireworks in tomorrow’s series finale so that Rodriguez won’t have to be pressed into service again.
Although the offense lit up the scoreboard, Jonathon Niese was the big star against the Astros. His dominant performance, especially after his rough first inning, gave the Mets something to smile about. With a few more outings like this one, Niese may find his way onto the staff permanently.
Tomorrow is the rubber game of the series, with Livan Hernandez going up against Brian Moehler. If the Mets can continue to slug the ball like they did tonight, Livan might not need to be at his best to pick up a win. Of course, a Niese-like performance by Hernandez would be quite welcome as well.
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Great recap Ed!
I take particular delight when you wrote,
Jeff Francoeur continues to swing a red-hot bat since being traded to the Mets two weeks ago. He now has 12 RBI in his 11 games as a Met, to go along with a sizzling .333 batting average (15 hits in 45 at-bats). The man he was traded for, Ryan Church, is only hitting .200 (6 for 30) with four RBI.
Francoeur is proving to be everything I knew he would be and more!
Let all the other Mets fans continue to mock him. All I know is that this seemed like the only site that welcomed him with open arms! Like I said the day of that trade, I won’t miss Church one bit, Frenchy is 25 and a has two 100-RBI seasons already. Church is a distant memory.
As for Niese, nice job and Omir Santos called an incredible game tonight and handled the kid just right.
By the way, Omir is another guy I embraced when others weeped over lazy-ass Ramon Castro.
Both Omir and Frenchy will be key if we’re gonna grab that wild card this year!
If only Omir could catch a perfect game like Castro did. Those games next week against the Rockies are going to be huge if the Mets are going to make one final run at the wild card berth. It’s too bad the Rockies aren’t the only team we have to catch.
Lets not forget Buehrle is one of the best control pitchers in baseball. I’m sure Castro didn’t have to move around much or dig balls out of the dirt, lol.
Francoeur might be batting .333 since joining the Mets, but he hasn’t walked once. He still shows the same crappy discipline that frustrated Atlanta.
He hasn’t drawn a walk, but he’s hit two home runs (40% of what he did all year in ATL), and you could do worse than a .333 OBP. Lol. He’ll draw a walk eventually. He’s not going to draw 100. But he’s got a ton of life in his bat.
He sure does have life in his bat. His slugging percentage for the Mets is .511, which is higher than any Met not currently on the disabled list.
AG is right, we would be much better off with Ryan Church and his walks!!! One extra base hit since he became a Brave, pardon me I have to puke.
I’m not saying we’d be better off with Church, I’m just saying he’s showed the same plat discipline. I wouldn’t get the flags out yet about his .333 AVG, it’s a small sample size. Hopefully I’m wrong, and he does start walking. But he didn’t suck last year for no reason.
How many players have a bad year and bounce back? While last year was not stellar from him the two previous years were VERY good, so I’d hope he returns to what he is capable of.
It is time to start giving these young players a chance to shine. But if the light isn’t bright at first, lets not cast them from the heavens. Young players take time to develop. Not that I’m comparing Niece to this guy (although they do amazingly have similar pitching styles) but Tommy Glavine struggled early in his major league career. For those who doubt this is true, check the 9-21 record he posted early on. Lets not give up on any of our future stars. Lets learn from the Red Sox and Rays, who show that patients for young players is the best way to turn around a fading orginazition.
Wright hit a HR! Who knows when we’ll see another of those.
Granted the Astros were missing Berkman, but Niese held a good offense to only one run. Good Job. His next start against the Rockies offense is going to be interesting.
Isn’t that something that one of the best lefties in the game (Johan Santana) gave up 12 hits last night, but a rookie lefty (Niese) held them in check?
Luckily, they didn’t bat Hampton in the cleanup spot.
Niese was outstanding – I’d rather he take his lumps in the majors than continue to dominate in AAA. The season’s shot, so let’s see what he can do on a regular basis.
Let’s hope Niese’s domination in Triple A can parlay into victories at the major league level.
I agree. Let they guy have a shot. He has to learn sometime, why blow another season letting him make mistakes when he can make them this season.
Niese pitched outstanding. He controlled a righty dominant line-up. I’d like to see Figgy and Evans promoted, as well. DFA Redding, Berroa and Tatis. Its nice to see that players are stepping up, even after last evening’s loss, where they showed the same fortitude that they did in tonight’s win. At least the guys that are taking the field show up to play.
Pagan either gets a hit or a loud out. Cory Sullivan has some pop in his bat, unlike Jeremy Reed, and he hustles on defense. Castillo comes to play, as does Murphy, Wright, Francouer & Santos. DW doesn’t seem so alone, now. He and Francouer appear to be good teammates for one another.
I say let the kids take their lumps, and let the Beltrans, Reyes & Delgado’s return when they return. I’m already thinking of next year’s rotation:
Santana
Bedard
Pelfrey
Niese
Nieve
Maybe Ollie can work out his kinks as a lefty longman.
pelfrey santana and perez are already 3 definite Starters for next year. You just can’t put a 36$ mill asset in the pen
Let’s just void Ollie’s contract after the year is over, and use the money to sign Holliday and Lackey
Ollie’s contract is guaranteed, we have to pay him regardless of what happens.
Go figure I was out and missed this masterpiece.
Niese clearly is nervous still and the first inning showed. But he got right into a groove and finished strong. I really don’t see any reason to send him down. This organization needs to so what he is worth. Let him pitch and keep going for the rest of year.
Franceour so far has been fine. No walks, but, the guy has 12 rbis already! Clearly the trade to get more O has been fine. Remember, this team has no problems with getting guys on base, they just can’t drive them in. Pagan and Castillo are consistently getting on base. Franceour’s job is to drive them in. If being a free-swinger gets him more rbis and hrs, this team will take it!
What a great game. Nise out did all of our expectations, I love this Francouer guy, he is pretty good with the homeruns. Yay for David, finally hitting a homer, but of course he did it when the pressure was completely off. Nobody on base, ahead by 9 runs. My only problem with the game was WHAT THE HELL WAS WRONG WITH K-ROD? Not only was he going to ball 3 on every batter, 2-0 on most, but he look like he was going to fall off the mound with every pitch. Not very encouraging. goes to show you no lead is safe.
Hitting a homerun when the pressure is off could very well be what he needs to get his stride back. He’s under a crazy amount of pressure and its obvious.
KROD is struggling simply because he’s not get regular work, he is not the kind of player that can play every 5 days or so.