Starting Lineup, Game Preview: Mets @ Cubs

Starting Lineup

1. Jose Reyes – SS
2. Daniel Murphy – 1B
3. Carlos Beltran – RF
4. Jason Bay – LF
5. Justin Turner – 3B
6. Willie Harris – CF
7. Ronny Paulino – C
8. Ruben Tejada – 2B
9. Jonathon Niese – LHP

Game Preview

The Mets start a series in the Windy City tonight as they try to get back on the winning track after dropping two straight to the Yankees. The Mets have had a stressing weekend where they started off finally getting back to .500, then dropping the next game, and then looked to go back to .500 on Sunday, but blew up in the 7th inning and got crushed. Tonight the Mets will send out Jon Niese to go up against Ryan Dempster.

Niese is 3-4 on the season over 55.1 innings with a 4.39 ERA. He bounced back in his last start really nicely. Two starts ago, he struggled against the Rockies where he allowed 5 ER over 7 innings of work. Last time out, he allowed 6 hits over 7.0 innings and no runs. During that time he walked only one batter, while striking out 7. Last season he pitched 11.2 innings against the Cubs where posted an ERA of 3.86. The Cubs have the following numbers against him:

Ramirez 2-8, HR
Soriano 2-7, 2B
Baker 4-6
Castro 0-3

The Mets will try to get consistent tonight against Ryan Dempster who is 2-4 over 56.0 innings with an ERA of 6.91. Ryan got the season off to a terrible start, and then in May he looked to start to turn it around with three good starts in a row, a streak that was snapped in his last outing where he allowed 5 ER over 5 innings of work. So in some ways, tonight is a crossroad for him (like how Pelfrey’s next start will be). Does Dempster return to be the pitcher at the start of May? Or the one in April? Last season he pitched 4.2 innings against the Mets where he allowed 7 runs, 3 earned. The Mets have the following numbers on Dempster:

Bay 2-13
Beltran 6-9, HR
Reyes 2-5, 3B
Harris 2-4
Thole 1-3, 2B

Let’s Go Mets!
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